Trapped
by cleotheo
Summary: After his failure to kill Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy finds himself with a deadly new task from The Dark Lord. Hermione Granger meanwhile is preparing to help Harry hunt down Voldemort's Horcrux's. When the pair find themselves trapped together can they overcome their differences and work together to save themselves from certain death?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - This story starts after sixth year, after Harry and Hermione have arrived at The Burrow for the summer but before the trio have had a chance to start their horcrux hunt.**

* * *

"Crucio!"

Draco Malfoy bit his lip to stop the scream that threatened to escape his lips as the agonising pain coursed through his body. After nearly six weeks of being tortured daily Draco knew the torment would be over quicker if he made no noise. The Dark Lord only threw more curses his way if he let out one tiny bit of noise.

Draco was sitting, practically lying, in the middle of the floor in the front room of Malfoy Manor while Voldemort pointed his wand at him. Standing watching the torture Draco was enduring, unable and in one case unwilling to help, were Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange. Lucius and Severus would have interfered if they could have but Bellatrix had no problems with watching her nephew get tortured by The Dark Lord.

"Get up." Voldemort sneered at the blond boy on the floor.

Draco carefully pulled himself to his feet, grimacing in pain. Standing facing The Dark Lord Draco didn't dare wipe at the blood that was running from his mouth. He also resisted the urge to look at the three other people in the room.

"I'm going to give you one more chance to prove yourself." Voldemort told Draco. "Mess this up and there will be no mercy."

"Yes, My Lord." Draco said, wondering what he was expected to do now.

Ever since his failure to kill Dumbledore, Draco had been tortured daily by Voldemort as The Dark Lord made a final decision on what to do with his youngest and most reluctant Death Eater. Draco knew the only reason he survived his failure in the first place was the fact that Dumbledore was actually dead.

"Within the next few weeks an important member of The Order of the Phoenix will be kidnapped. You will be looking after them and when the time is right, you will kill them." Voldemort said.

Draco nodded making sure his expression remained neutral at the shocking news. Draco felt sick at the thought that he had once again been asked to kill, something he knew that he couldn't do. Draco was many things and he was aware that he wasn't the nicest person but he was no killer and he had no intention of becoming one.

"May I ask who you're kidnapping?" Draco asked, shocking everyone in the room. It wasn't common to question The Dark Lord and Draco had always been too afraid of him to speak before he was spoken to.

"You'll find out later. You can leave now." Voldemort said dismissing Draco.

Draco respectfully nodded at Voldemort and left the front room, eager to get up to his own room and treat his wounds. When Draco entered his bedroom he wasn't at all surprised to find his mother pacing the floor.

Narcissa Malfoy knew exactly what had been happening to her son, but unfortunately she was powerless to stop it. The best Narcissa could do was be there for Draco when he returned to his room and treat his wounds.

Narcissa immediately rushed to Draco's side when he entered the room. Narcissa carefully wrapped her arm around Draco's waist and helped him to the bed. Once Draco was sitting down Narcissa summoned some potions and a first aid kit from the adjoining bathroom and began cleaning Draco up, starting with the blood that was running down his face from his bleeding lip.

Narcissa had cleaned Draco's bloody face and was checking he wasn't badly injured anywhere else when a knock on the door disturbed them. Narcissa opened the door and Severus Snape entered the room.

"I'll leave you two to talk." Narcissa said, before she left the room.

"I thought you might find this helpful." Severus said handing Draco a strong pain potion.

Draco swallowed the potion in one go before he turned to his Potions Professor. "What do you know about this newest plan?" He asked.

"This is the first I've heard of it." Severus admitted.

"How on earth does he plan on kidnapping someone from the Order?" Draco asked.

"I'm not sure. But I do know he has someone feeding him information about the Order's movements." Severus said.

"A spy?"

"No." Severus shook his head. "He's got someone under the Imperius curse but I have no idea who."

"How long have they been under?" Draco asked.

"Since sometime last year." Severus said.

Draco sat on the bed in silence for some time before he finally spoke, his voice barely audible in the large room. "I can't do it."

"You have to." Severus said, sitting down next to Draco. "Your life depends on it."

"What life?" Draco snorted. "Being stuck in the Manor getting tortured daily until Potter defeats The Dark Lord and I end up in Azkaban."

"Do you really think Potter will win?" Severus asked curiously.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "Even if it takes years, The Order won't stop fighting."

Severus nodded agreeing thoroughly with Draco's observations. Severus desperately wished that he still had connections within the Order and they didn't all hate him for Dumbledore's death. With Lucius out of Azkaban Narcissa's life was no longer being threatened and Severus was confident he could have persuaded Draco to go to the Order for help. Unfortunately with recent events at Hogwarts it would take a miracle for the Order to believe that Severus and Draco were on their side.

While Severus was thinking of what could have been Draco carefully stood up from the bed and started walking towards the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" Severus asked as he also stood up. He wasn't sure if he meant physically or emotionally but either way Severus knew the answer was no, Draco was anything but okay.

"Fine." Draco muttered before he turned in the doorway to face Severus. "You know sometimes I think it would have been better if you'd let Potter finish what he'd started in that bathroom last year."

"You don't mean that." Severus exclaimed, surprised by what Draco was insinuating.

"Don't I." Draco said darkly, heading into the bathroom and slamming the door behind him.

Severus stood stunned, looking at the closed door leading to Draco's en-suite bathroom. Draco had been forced into serving The Dark Lord and ordered to do things he found difficult but Severus never once suspected that things were so bad for him that he considered death a better alternative to his life.

The sound of the shower turning on shook Severus out of his thoughts and he hurried to the door, Draco wouldn't be happy if he found him still in his room when he re-entered it. Severus left Draco's room and the first thing he saw was Narcissa sitting on the floor opposite Draco's door with tears streaming down her face. Obviously the witch had heard the entire conversation and had heard what Draco had said just before he entered the bathroom.

"Narcissa, get up before someone sees you." Severus said, hurrying to the witch's side and pulling her to her feet.

"What does it matter?" Narcissa sobbed.

Severus didn't answer, instead he pulled Narcissa into an empty bedroom a few doors away from Draco's room. Severus sat Narcissa down on one of the chairs in the room and squatted down in front of her.

"Narcissa you have to get a hold of yourself." Severus said to the distraught witch. "It won't do Draco any good if anyone finds out how he really feels."

Narcissa sniffed one final time and wiped her eyes on a handkerchief she produced from her pocket. Severus watched as Narcissa calmed herself and slowly became the poised woman he was used to.

"What's he been asked to do this time?" Narcissa asked, once she had regained her composure.

Severus explained about the task The Dark Lord had assigned Draco. He debated whether to tell Narcissa that it was Draco's final chance with Voldemort. He did tell her, eventually deciding to be honest with her.

"You have to help him, Severus." Narcissa said, struggling not to burst into more tears. "He's not a killer."

"I know he's not." Severus said. "But I'm not sure what I can do to help him."

"Get him to the Order, anything. Just please save him." Narcissa pleaded. She was now wishing she had told Snape to take Draco to the Order the previous year.

"We both know I can't take him to the Order now." Severus said with regret. "But I promise to keep an eye on him and if I see the opportunity to help him, I will."

"Thank you." Narcissa said, trying to smile at Severus. "Do you think he meant what he said?" She asked after a minute's silence.

Severus knew exactly what Narcissa was referring to. "No, he's just upset."

"So you don't think he'll try to do anything about it?" Narcissa asked, barely able to think about what she was asking.

"No, he's not suicidal. That's not something you have to worry about." Severus said sounding confident. Despite Draco's words Severus had no doubt that he would never consider killing himself.

Making sure she was composed and using her wand to fix her make-up Narcissa stood up. Severus also stood up right and together the two headed back downstairs before someone wondered what was happening and came to investigate.

* * *

After taking a shower Draco threw on some comfortable clothes and headed out onto his private balcony. No matter what was going on in his life Draco loved the spectacular view and the sense of tranquilly he got by sitting on his balcony.

"Misty." Draco called for his own personal house elf once he was settled in the chair that stood on the balcony.

A small female house elf appeared next to Draco with a small pop. Misty had been with Draco since he was born and was extremely fond of her master. Unlike Lucius, Draco didn't hurt or abuse his elf.

"Bring me a hot chocolate." Draco said to the elf.

Misty apparated away and returned less than five minutes later with a large mug of steaming hot chocolate, topped with cream.

"Thank you." Draco said absentmindedly as Misty placed the drink on the table next to him.

Misty once again apparated away, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts. He was trapped and saw no way out of his predicament. Draco was aware that there was a strong possibility that he would have chosen to join Voldemort on his own but the fact he was forced into it when he was barely sixteen had changed his perspective of things. It was one thing to choose the life he was living but it was terrible to have the decision forced on him when he was unable to protest.

Draco was also worried about his new task, he knew there was no way he would be able to kill anyone. Draco tried to forget the last part of The Dark Lord's task and instead he tried to concentrate on who was the potential kidnapping victim.

Despite Snape telling him about the informant Voldemort had within the Order Draco was finding it hard to believe they could get away with kidnapping someone from the Order. He was also bemused by who they would want to kidnap, other than Potter himself. Draco knew that Potter wasn't the person they were kidnapping as The Dark Lord would just kill him outright.

After a few hours sitting on his balcony Draco got cold and decided it was time to head indoors for the night. After hours of dwelling on The Dark Lord's newest plan Draco picked up his book, vowing to forget all about his troubles for a while.

Just before midnight Draco put down his book and headed into his bathroom. After getting washed and brushing his teeth, Draco returned and crawled into his large four poster bed. Draco extinguished the light and tried to find a position he could lie in that didn't hurt his aching body. As Draco eventually drifted off to sleep he hoped that his daily torture would stop now that Voldemort had a new task for him.


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't believe we have to do all the dirty work." Ron Weasley groaned.

Ron was currently in the garden of The Burrow with his best friend, Harry Potter. They were wearing their old clothes and were weeding and de-gnoming the large garden. Ron's elder brother, Bill was getting married to his fiancée, Fleur Delacour in a weeks' time and The Burrow was a hive of activity as the whole family prepared for the happy event.

"It could be worse." Harry said.

"How?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Harry said. "But look on the bright side at least we're outside in the sun. Ginny's stuck indoors having a dress fitting."

"Hermione isn't stuck indoors." Ron pointed out.

"No, but Hermione had a list a mile long of things to get in Diagon Alley, she'll be ages." Harry said.

"Do you think it was safe to allow her to go to Diagon Alley?" Ron asked as he threw another weed over his shoulder.

"Yes. Fred and George manage fine with their shop. It's not too bad yet." Harry said. He was slightly worried for Hermione's safety but knowing the twins were in close proximity if anything happened helped to sooth Harry's nerves.

"Boys! Stop chatting and do some work." The shrill voice of Molly Weasley called from the kitchen window.

Harry and Ron both turned round to see Molly staring at them. Ron's mother made shooing motions with her hands and the two boys turned back to their tedious and dirty job.

"Bloody wedding." Ron moaned as he tried to grab a gnome that had appeared in front of him.

Harry chuckled at his best friend and set off after another gnome that had appeared from the ground. Harry was relieved to have something other than Voldemort and his Horcrux's to think about. He knew the time was coming when along with Ron and Hermione he would have to set off on his mission to find and destroy the Horcrux's but Bill and Fleur's wedding was proving the ideal distraction for The Boy Who Lived.

* * *

Hermione Granger walked along Diagon Alley saddened by the numerous shops that were closed. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were attacking more frequently and Hermione knew that soon it wouldn't be safe to visit Diagon Alley.

Hermione checked the long list Molly had given her to see where she needed to go next. Seeing flowers were her next item to arrange, Hermione headed to the florist. The florist was decorated lovely as always with plenty of flowers on display outside the small shop.

Hermione headed inside the shop and found the owner standing behind the counter arranging a bouquet of roses.

"Hello, I've come about the flowers for the Weasley wedding." Hermione said when she reached the counter.

"Of course." The witch behind the counter smiled at Hermione. "I'll be right with you, I just need to finish these."

"There's no hurry." Hermione said, wandering over to a potted plant display in the corner.

While the florist was finishing her rose bouquet Hermione admired the many flowers in the shop. It was a dazzling array of wizarding and muggle flowers, often combined in one bunch to create unique effects. Hermione wandered around for several minutes before she headed back to the counter.

"Right, we have a bridal bouquet and the buttonholes for the men in the wedding party." The florist said, checking her order book.

Hermione checked her list from Molly. "That's right. I want to pay and arrange delivery."

"Would you like to see the wedding bouquet?" The florist asked.

"Yes please. Would it be possible to take a picture of the bouquet to show Mrs Weasley?" Hermione said.

"Of course." The florist said.

The florist left Hermione for a few seconds as she went into the backroom to retrieve the bouquet. When the florist returned she placed the bouquet on the counter for Hermione to see.

"It's lovely." Hermione said. The bouquet was made up of pale purple and cream flowers and matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.

Hermione took a camera from her bag and snapped a picture before she paid the florist and arranged the delivery time and date. Once Hermione left the florist she ticked the flowers off her list and set off to her next shop.

Hermione carried on working her way down Mrs Weasley's list of tasks. Most things on the list required paying for and arranging delivery so Hermione only had a few items in her bag.

Hermione was disappointed to find that completing the wedding list wasn't proving as much of a distraction she had hoped. Hermione had actually volunteered the previous night to come to Diagon Alley in a bid to escape from the Burrow for a while. Hermione loved the Weasley's but being around the large, loving family made Hermione miss her own family.

The week before they had rescued Harry from Privet Drive, Hermione had obliviated her parents and planted the idea in their heads that they wanted to emigrate to Australia. Hermione had so far avoided thinking too much about her parents as she threw herself into preparations to destroy the Horcrux's with Harry and Ron. Hermione was very aware that the longer her parents had their memories modified the harder it would be to bring them back to normal.

Hermione finally finished her list and started to make her way back to Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Hermione had arrived at Diagon Alley via the twins joke shop and it was also how she planned on returning.

As Hermione passed the pet emporium she decided to make a quick detour to get Crookshanks some treats. Hermione was going to miss Crookshanks when she went off with Harry and Ron, which she had a feeling was going to be soon. Harry had only agreed to stay put so long because of Bill and Fleur's wedding but Hermione could sense how eager Harry was to begin the Horcrux hunt.

As Hermione left the store she walked straight into someone. "Sorry." She said, hardly glancing at who she had bumped into.

"Hermione, I was looking for you." The person said, holding onto Hermione's arm.

"Why? What's wrong?" Hermione asked, panicking about who could be in trouble.

"I don't know, Mum just said she wanted you home immediately. I've been sent to fetch you."

"Fine. Are we apparating or flooing?" Hermione asked.

"It's quicker if I apparate us." The person said.

"I do have my apparition licence." Hermione said sounding slightly annoyed. While she loved the Weasley's dearly they did have a tendency to be slightly overprotective.

"Mum's orders." Hermione was told.

Hermione knew better than to argue with what Molly had instructed so she let herself be apparated away from Diagon Alley.

* * *

The Burrow was packed to the seams with family and Order members so Molly ordered that dinner would be served in the garden where there was more room. Molly made Bill and Charlie levitate some tables outside while Harry, Ron and Ginny were given instructions to set the table. While Molly finished preparing dinner, with help from Tonks and Fleur, everyone else gathered outside to await the few people still to arrive.

Harry was talking with Remus Lupin when Percy Weasley arrived. After his falling out with his family, Percy had apologised a few months ago and he was now back as part of the family. Things were still slightly awkward for Percy but he was making an effort to make amends with his family.

A few minutes after Percy arrived Molly, Tonks and Fleur started bringing out the food and setting it on the table. When she was finished with the food Molly looked around checking that everyone had arrived.

"Who are we missing?" Molly called, noticing a few empty seats.

Everyone looked around, trying to work out who wasn't present.

"The twins." Bill said, noticing the lack of mischief in the garden.

"Hermione." Harry and Ron said together as they shared a worried look.

"I know it was a long list but this is ridiculous." Molly muttered, heading back into the house.

A small group, including Harry and Ron, followed Molly into the kitchen. Molly picked up her magical clock and checked where Fred and George were. It showed they were still at work. Molly wished that Hermione had her own stick on the clock, she had been planning on putting Harry and Hermione onto the clock as she considered them both part of the family but she hadn't gotten round to it so far.

"Look, Fred and George are travelling." Ron pointed to the clock. "They must be coming now."

Everyone turned to the fireplace expectantly and a second later Fred stepped out of the green flames closely followed by George.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry immediately asked.

"That's what we were going to ask you." Fred said.

"She never came back, we waited and looked round Diagon Alley but there was no sign of her." George added. "We assumed she returned home."

"She's not here." Ron said.

When there had been no sign of Hermione with Fred and George Molly had sent Ginny to get everyone else so by the time the brief conversation was finished everyone was present.

"We need to head back to Diagon Alley." Lupin said, taking charge. "Someone needs to stay here in case she returns and we're panicking over nothing."

"Ginny and I will stay here." Molly said, shooting her daughter a glare when she started to protest.

"Good." Lupin said. He then proceeded to split the group so they could search quicker. "Remember, if you get into trouble or find anything send your patronus." He told the group as they prepared to apparate.

With a nod from Lupin everyone began to apparate to Diagon Alley in search of the missing Hermione.

* * *

Hermione groaned at the aching in her head as she slowly returned to consciousness. The last thing she remembered clearly was shopping in Diagon Alley, she had a vague recollection of talking to someone but apart from the red hair their actual face was a blur. Hermione slowly sat up and took in her surroundings.

She was in a small room, with a cold hard stone floor. The walls were also made of stone, at Hermione's best guess it was a dungeon or a cellar somewhere. There was a tiny bed in the corner of the room which Hermione was currently lying on.

Hermione sat up on the bed and placed her head in her hands, she had obviously been kidnapped. Hermione felt sick as she thought about the type of pain and suffering she was likely to face in the hands of Death Eaters. Hermione wondered if she was being held as a hostage to get Harry to do as Voldemort wished or if she was being held just because of her blood status.

The sound of the door opening caused Hermione to back up against the wall, she had no wand to defend herself but she wasn't letting anyone touch her without putting up a fight.

"You're awake." Voldemort said, sweeping into the room.

Hermione looked at the dark wizard unable to speak. It was the closest she had ever been to Voldemort and as much as she hated to admit it she was terrified.

"I suppose you're wondering what's happening?" Voldemort asked. Hermione managed to nod her head but was still unable to make herself speak. "You've been kidnapped."

"You don't say." Hermione couldn't help but speak as Voldemort stated the obvious. "Why?" She asked, making the most of her new found voice.

"A few reasons." Voldemort shrugged. "Don't worry you won't be killed, yet."

"That's a relief." Hermione muttered sarcastically.

Voldemort chuckled at Hermione's response, he had been informed that the mudblood was feisty and it wasn't proving a lie so far. Whipping his wand out he summoned a tray of food and placed it on the floor next to the bed.

"It's not poisoned." He said, noticing the wary looks Hermione was shooting at the tray.

"I'm not sure I'm willing to take the chance." Hermione said.

"Suit yourself." Voldemort said, heading for the door. "Goodbye, Miss Granger."

Voldemort swept out of the room leaving Hermione totally baffled by what had happened. Voldemort had had plenty of opportunity to hurt her or kill her but the only time he raised his wand was to summon food. Hermione couldn't work out what was going on. Why was she being kept as a prisoner rather than killed outright? And what were these few reasons that had led to her been kidnapped?


	3. Chapter 3

Harry and Ron left yet another shop in Diagon Alley, dejected by their lack of progress. Hermione had been missing all night and they were still no closer to finding out what had happened to her.

The previous night everyone had rushed to Diagon Alley but their search was hampered by the fact the shops had closed and there was no-one around to ask questions to. After an hour of fruitless searching, Lupin had ordered everyone back to the Burrow. Harry and Ron had argued against the decision but eventually they conceded that there was nothing they could do that night.

Early the next morning the search once again began with some people heading to Diagon Alley while others tried to find any sign of Hermione at known Death Eater camps, in case she had been kidnapped for some reason. Kidnapping was currently the most popular theory to explain Hermione's sudden disappearance.

"This is ridiculous, it's like Hermione just disappeared into thin air." Ron grumbled. So far they had spoken to plenty of people who had seen Hermione the previous day but no-one had provided them with any useful information on her disappearance.

"There has to be someone who saw something." Harry said, running his hand through his unruly hair in frustration.

"Maybe the others have had some luck." Ron sighed as they continued to walk down Diagon Alley.

Harry mumbled in agreement as the two boys carried on walking down the street, each contemplating what could be happening to Hermione. Harry and Ron were passing the pet store when the owner appeared from the shop and beckoned them over to him.

"Is it true that Hermione Granger is missing?" The shop keeper asked. Diagon Alley was a small place and the questions asked by the Order had caused widespread gossip.

"Yes." Harry said warily. "Did you see her yesterday?"

"Yes, she came in to get some cat treats."

"What time?" Ron asked.

"Late, I closed the shop less than ten minutes later." The man said.

"Did you see which way she went when she left here?" Harry asked.

"I don't know." The shop keeper shook his head. "But she was talking to someone outside of the shop, moments after she left." He added, as he remembered seeing her stop outside of the shop.

"Who was she talking to?" Harry asked, hopeful they were on their way to finding Hermione.

"I don't know, I didn't see them." The shop keeper said, wishing he had paid more attention. "I just saw her stop outside the shop and she was clearly talking to someone. I tidied a few things up and when I turned back round she was gone. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help."

"You've been a great help." Harry said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He could tell the shop keeper felt bad for not being able to help more.

Harry and Ron thanked the shop keeper and headed back outside into the warm sunshine. After agreeing they should return back to the Burrow as they were already running late, Harry and Ron whipped out their wands and apparated back to the Weasley house.

Harry and Ron entered the kitchen to find everyone else sitting around the kitchen table deep in discussion. They quietly slid into the two empty seats and listened to what was being said. It seemed there was no obvious sign of Hermione at any place associated with the Death Eaters, not that it didn't mean they weren't keeping her out of sight.

"I haven't heard any talk of a kidnap." Mundungus said. He frequented some dodgy pubs and often provided information he had gathered by listening in on people's conversations.

"Maybe there's some other explanation. Maybe she hasn't been kidnapped." Tonks suggested.

"No, I think we were right with our first theory." Harry said explaining about the mystery person Hermione had been seen with in Diagon Alley.

The room fell silent as Harry spoke. After he had finished everyone wondered why Hermione had been kidnapped, if that was what had happened.

"If Hermione has been taken we have to think about the fact that she may no longer be alive." Lupin said, breaking the silence and voicing the concern everyone shared.

"No, I won't accept that." Harry said, standing up. "Until we have evidence on the contrary we act as though Hermione's alive."

Harry then turned and left the kitchen heading up to Ron's room, which he was sharing with his best friend. Harry entered Ron's room and sat down on his friends bed, putting his head in his hands as he tried to decide what to do next. Ron entered the room a few seconds later and sat down next to Harry.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked.

Harry thought for several minutes before he looked up at Ron. "We leave. We start searching for Horcrux's and Hermione."

"How do we do that?" Ron asked as Harry stood up and started gathering their pre-prepared bags.

"By using my connection with Voldemort." Harry said, referring to the fact he could often see what Voldemort was feeling or doing. "Hermione was researching my connection with him, trying to find some way to stop it as the occulemcy doesn't seem to be working."

"Where are we going? We have no leads on either the Horcrux's or Hermione." Ron said.

"I thought we could stay at Grimmauld Place and start some research." Harry said.

"But Grimmauld Place isn't safe, Snape knows about it." Ron said. That was the reason that Headquarters had been switched to the Burrow.

"We'll have to take a chance." Harry said, throwing his bag over his shoulder. "Are you coming?"

"Yes." Ron said, picking up his own bag. "Should we bring Hermione's bag?" He asked, looking at the third bag that was lying in the corner.

"Yeah." Harry said and Ron picked up Hermione's bag. "Let's go and say bye, I want to keep in touch with everyone so they can update us with what they've found out about Hermione."

Ron nodded and the two teenagers made their way downstairs to break the news that they were leaving.

* * *

"Why aren't we just killing her?" Bellatrix asked, looking down at an unconscious Hermione.

She was standing in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor with Voldemort preparing to move Hermione to a safe house where Draco would spend the next few months looking after her.

"I told you Bella, killing her would only anger Potter and make him more determined to kill me." Voldemort said. Normally he would have been angry if someone had questioned his choices but he often allowed Bellatrix some leeway as she one of his most loyal supporters.

"Surely kidnapping her is going to make him angry as well."

"Kidnapping her will keep Potter distracted. I'm planning on making sure he knows she's still alive." Voldemort explained to Bella. "He'll be so distracted by saving the mudblood that he won't have time to concentrate on anything else."

Bellatrix nodded seeing the logic in keeping Potter's mudblood a prisoner. She was pretty sure The Dark Lord planned on taunting Potter and using the girl to draw him out before he killed him.

"Why aren't we just keeping her here. Why go to all the trouble of moving her and having Draco guarding her?"

"Because your nephew needs to prove himself. He disappointed me with his failure to kill Dumbledore." Voldemort said.

"But why use the girl?" Bella questioned. She understood that Draco had to make up for his mistakes but she was unsure of The Dark Lord's plan for him to achieve it.

"We have her so we might as well put her to use." Voldemort said. "Draco needs to prove he can kill. What better way then have him kill someone he already knows, especially if he's spent a lot of time alone with them beforehand."

"You want him to become attached to her before he has to kill her." Bella said, suddenly understanding the plan Voldemort had put into place.

Voldemort nodded slightly. Since Draco had failed him so spectacularly he wanted to punish him, whether he became attached to the girl or not Voldemort knew it would still be hard for Draco to kill someone he had known for so long.

"Take the girl to the house and make sure the wards are secure." Voldemort ordered. "I'll meet you there with Draco."

Voldemort swept out of the dungeon leaving Bella alone with Hermione. Bellatrix looked down at the girl with a grimace, she had been knocked out with a powerful spell. Bellatrix grabbed Hermione roughly by the arm and apparated them out of the basement of her sister's house.

* * *

Draco sat on his bed, eyeing up the bag that he had reluctantly packed last night. During an uncomfortable dinner last night Lucius had informed him that the person he would be guarding had been kidnapped and his new assignment would begin the next day. Draco had tried to find out who had been kidnapped but Lucius either didn't know or didn't want to tell him.

When Draco had returned to his room after dinner, he had packed a bag as instructed. Once the bag was packed Draco had thrown it on a chair, dreading the time when he would have to use it.

Draco hadn't bothered venturing out of his room all morning. Earlier his mother had paid him a brief visit but she had no further information for him regarding his new mission. The conversation between himself and his mother had been stilted and awkward as both knew that Draco wouldn't be able to fulfil his assignment. They also both knew what the consequences would be when Draco failed his latest mission from The Dark Lord.

Draco looked around his room as he wondered if he would ever be back in it again once he left some time over the course of the day. Surprisingly Draco's room wasn't decorated in Slytherin colours like a lot of his friends' rooms. The room was decorated in light blue with all the furniture made of a light wood, giving the room a spacious and light look. Draco preferred that his bedroom was light and airy since he spent most of his time at school in the dark and dingy dungeons.

Draco was interrupted by a gentle knocking on his door. He immediately recognised his mother's knock and sure enough when the door opened Narcissa popped her head around the door.

"It's time, darling." Narcissa said, fighting back the tears.

Draco nodded and retrieved his bag before he made his way to the bedroom door. Draco took one final look around his bedroom before he felt Narcissa's hand on his arm. Draco looked at his mother waiting for her to speak as he knew she wanted to say something.

"If you get the chance, run." Narcissa said quietly, checking that no-one had appeared in the empty hallway behind her. "Use this time to escape, Draco."

"I can't." Draco shook his head. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about me." Narcissa said. "All I care about is you. We both know that The Dark Lord won't allow a second failure."

Draco looked at his mother knowing that it could possibly be the last time he saw her. What Narcissa was saying about running made sense but Draco wasn't sure if he could just abandon his mother and potentially put her life in danger.

"I want you to promise me that if you have the opportunity you'll escape this life, Draco." Narcissa said, pleading with her son to put his life ahead of hers. "Please."

Draco stood silently for a few minutes while Narcissa looked at her son with tear filled eyes. "I promise." He whispered finally, giving in to his mother.

Narcissa smiled weakly and pulled Draco into an embrace. "I love you." She said as she hugged him close.

"I love you too." Draco said. Narcissa was the only person that Draco had ever said I love you to and he thought that she was the only person in his life that he actually did love.

"We should go." Narcissa said, composing herself before she faced anyone.

Draco nodded and followed Narcissa down the stairs and towards his new assignment for The Dark Lord.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry and Ron were busy sorting out the bedroom they had picked out to stay in at Grimmauld Place when Harry suddenly cried out and collapsed to the ground holding his head. Ron immediately rushed over to Harry who was sitting against the bed wincing in agony.

"Harry are you alright?" Ron asked.

Harry was silent as he battled with the pain in his head and drunk in what he was seeing in his mind. After several minutes of sitting on the floor, Harry eventually managed to stand up with Ron's help.

"It was Hermione. She's still alive." Harry said to Ron.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. He didn't want to have any false hope regarding his best friend.

"Yes, she's being held in some sort of dungeon or basement. Voldemort was talking to her and said she wouldn't be killed, yet." Harry explained.

"How did you see all that?" Ron asked. Ron was surprised by the amount of information Harry seemed to have received from the vision, he had only ever witnessed glimpses of what Voldemort was doing before now.

"I think he showed it to me deliberately." Harry explained. "This felt completely different to anything I've ever experienced before."

"Is it even possible to do that?" Ron asked sceptically. He was now wondering if the information regarding Hermione was even true or if it was Voldemort playing games with Harry.

"I don't know, that was the sort of thing Hermione was looking into." Harry said. "But the important thing right now is that she's alive."

"If what he showed you was real." Ron added with a note of caution. "He might be tricking you."

"I don't think so." Harry said. "I'm convinced it was real."

"Why would he show you that Hermione's alive?" Ron asked, still sceptical about the information.

"I'm not sure, maybe to keep me distracted from finding the Horcrux's." Harry shrugged, unable to answer Ron's question.

Ron grumbled quietly, he wasn't sure what Harry saw was real but he was hoping that it was.

"I know it could be false information." Harry admitted. "But I'm convinced Hermione's alive. If she was dead they would have found some way of letting us know."

"True." Ron nodded knowing Harry was right. Voldemort would know how devastated Harry and the Order would be by Hermione's death, if she was already dead they would surely know by now.

"Come on, we need to eat." Harry said, heading for the door. "We need to start looking at Hermione's research this afternoon."

Ron followed Harry out of the room, the smell of the casserole Kreacher was making drifting up the stairs and making his mouth water. While Ron was looking forward to eating he wasn't looking forward to going over Hermione's research. Since the end of the last school year the brunette witch had spent every spare minute she had pouring over books as she researched anything that might be of use to Harry.

* * *

When Draco entered the Dining Room he found Voldemort sitting at the head of the table with his eyes closed, he looked to be concentrating hard on something. Draco debated whether he should announce his presence when The Dark Lord suddenly opened his eyes with a smirk on his face.

"Ah Draco, you've arrived." Voldemort said, spotting the blond boy standing nervously in the doorway.

Draco nodded at the dark wizard in front of him, not trusting his voice not to betray the fear and worry he was feeling. Voldemort stood from his seat and walked over to Draco where he grabbed the blond's arm. Draco winced slightly at Voldemort's bony hand gripping his arm with some force.

"I suppose it's time to go." Voldemort said seconds before he apparated away with Draco.

A few seconds later Draco and Voldemort landed in a large room, the sunlight streaming through the front windows. Voldemort let go of Draco's arm and Draco immediately fought the urge to rub the spot where The Dark Lord had been holding onto him.

"Where are we?" Draco asked, looking around the room. As he looked around the room Draco spotted his aunt Bellatrix standing in the corner of the room.

The room looked like an ordinary front room, decorated in various shades of beige and brown. There were several seats, a large fireplace, a coffee table in the middle of the room and Draco could see a kitchen and a dining room through an archway that was erected in place of a back wall in the room. There was also a door in the room that looked to lead into a hallway, though Draco couldn't be sure as it was only open a crack.

There was bright light streaming in through the windows in the room and Draco could see a neat garden but everything past the front gate was covered with a white mist. Draco looked through the kitchen and dining room to the windows there. The kitchen had one large widow and the dining room had glass doors. From both Draco could see a large expanse of lawn and what looked like a stream in the distance but like the front of the house a white mist stopped him from seeing what was beyond the garden.

"Where we are doesn't matter." Voldemort said as Bellatrix came to stand beside him. "What matters is that you listen carefully and do your job."

Draco nodded and sat down on one of the sofa's when his aunt gestured for him to do so. Draco waited for his instructions hoping that he wouldn't have to do anything other than feed and water the prisoner they were obviously holding somewhere in the house.

"You are to stay in this house until I come and get you when it is time for the final part of your assignment." Voldemort said, noticing that Draco visibly paled when he mentioned the latter part of his task. "Once a week Bella will be coming to check on you and see if you need anything. The kitchen will magically restock itself so you needn't worry about food. As I'm sure you've noticed there are wards around the house."

Draco nodded as he once again looked at the mysterious mist surrounding the house. He had never seen any wards that visibly stopped you from seeing beyond the boundary line of a property. Draco also wondered how the sun managed to get through the wards but he decided he would investigate it himself later.

"You can go anywhere in the house and grounds but the wards will prevent you from leaving the property." Voldemort said. "Do you have any questions?" He asked.

"What are my orders concerning the prisoner?" Draco asked.

Voldemort nodded to Bellatrix and she was the one who spoke next. "The prisoner is in the spare bedroom. It's up to you if you keep them there or let them use the house. There's no way either of you can leave and they no longer have their wand, so it's entirely up to you how you treat the prisoner."

Draco looked shocked by the news, he expected to be guarding someone who was locked up. Draco wondered if he should keep the prisoner in their room or let them roam the house. After thinking for several minutes he thought it was best if he discovered the identity of his prisoner before he made that decision.

"We'll be going now. Bella will be back next week to check up on you." Voldemort said. "Don't fail me this time, Draco." He added darkly before he dissapparated.

Once Voldemort was gone Draco turned to look at his aunt who was still standing watching him. Draco tried not to appear too intimidated by his aunt but the truth was she scared him with her unpredictable behaviour and her devotion to the dark arts.

"You're lucky to be getting a second chance." Bellatrix said. "Whatever you do, don't blow it."

Bellatrix stared at Draco for several minutes before she suddenly turned on the spot and dissapparated with a crack. Draco sat staring at where his aunt was previously standing. He was so confused, he had promised his mother he would run if he got the chance but Draco was having doubts about whether it was the wisest thing to do.

After his brief look at the house he was stuck in he could see no obvious method of escape. Even if he did escape the property he had nowhere to go and there was still the possibility his mother could be hurt.

Pushing any thoughts of escape from his head Draco stood up and grabbed his bag. For the time being he would concentrate on discovering the identity of his prisoner and whether it was wise to allow them free reign of the house. Maybe once he was settled in he could contemplate the chances of escape along with the pros and cons of the decision.

Draco paid no attention to the house and it's layout as he found the stairs and headed up them. Once upstairs he found three doors, one was shut while the other two were standing wide open. Draco assumed the prisoner was being held in the room with the closed door so he checked out the other two rooms first.

One room was a bathroom that contained all the facilities needed but wasn't big on space. The other room was a large bedroom decorated in green, Draco decided it must be the master room and therefore his room for the duration of his stay. Draco threw his bag onto a chair and headed back out to the landing, barely paying any attention to the room he would be living in.

Draco came to a stop outside the closed bedroom door that would reveal the identity of his prisoner. Draco pulled out his wand in precaution and taking a deep breath he closed his hand around the door handle and began to open the door.

* * *

Hermione woke with a pounding headache. She groaned at the sunlight hitting her face and put her arm over her head to shield herself before she remembered what had happened to her. Suddenly remembering that she had been kidnapped, Hermione sprung up from the bed and looked around the room she was now occupying.

The last thing Hermione remembered was sitting in her cold stone cell and then the door opened. Voldemort and Bellatrix had entered but before Hermione had chance to react Voldemort had whipped out his wand and cast some sort of spell on her. Hermione figured she had been knocked out before they transported her but she had no idea why she had been moved or where she now was.

Hermione studied the room she was being held prisoner in, it was a decent size with a double bed covered in green satin sheets. There was a wardrobe and some drawers in the room. There was also two pale green chairs sitting by a large window.

After studying the room Hermione immediately went to the door and tried to open it. Unsurprisingly it was either locked or had a spell on it so she couldn't open it. With no wand to try and unlock the door Hermione turned back to the room to examine things further.

Hermione opened the wardrobe and was stunned to find it was full of clothes. Looking at a top she found it her size and after examining a few more items of clothing she discovered everything was her size. Shocked by the revelation Hermione opened the drawers that were standing beside the wardrobe. The top drawer was filled with underwear, again they were all her size. The second drawer contained nightwear and by this point Hermione wasn't the slightest bit surprised to discover the entire contents of the drawer were all in her size.

After the shock of finding clothes in her size Hermione wandered over to the window to see if she could get a better idea of where she was being held. Hermione saw a beautiful big lawn with a stream at the bottom of the garden but she was annoyed to find everything past the stream was obscured with a white mist.

Hermione stood at the window for several minutes, annoyed by the fact it was giving her no clues as to where she was being held. Hermione was just turning away from the window when a sound from the door grabbed her attention.

Hermione watched as the doorknob turned and the door started to open. Hermione took a deep breath as she waited to face whichever Death Eater came into the room.


	5. Chapter 5

The door slowly creaked open as both Hermione and Draco prepared to face whoever was on the other side of the wooden door. When the door was fully open stormy grey eyes met warm brown ones.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy!"

Hermione and Draco stared at each other for several minutes, each totally shocked by who they were faced with.

"How on earth did they manage to get hold of you?" Draco said, he was speaking more to himself than Hermione.

"Never mind that." Hermione snapped. She was still fuming herself over how she had been kidnapped. "Where the hell are we and what's going on?"

"You've been kidnapped Granger. I thought the brightest witch of our age would have known that." Draco sneered, the brunette witch already annoying him.

"I know that but why? And you never answered my other question about where we are." Hermione said.

"The answer to both is I don't know." Draco admitted.

"If you don't know, then what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, not believing the blond for one second when he claimed to be as in the dark as her regarding her situation.

"Following orders Granger, that's what I'm doing." Draco said.

"I'm not sure whether I believe you." Hermione said, eying up the wand Draco was holding in his hand.

Draco followed Hermione's eye line to his wand. Draco debated his choices regarding Hermione for a couple of seconds before he put his wand away. "Whether we like it or not we're stuck together, so we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Draco said.

"What's the difference?" Hermione asked with a snort.

"The hard way you stay locked in your room apart from when I let you out to use the bathroom or to eat. The easy way is you can go anywhere in the house but my room." Draco explained.

"Why would you let me have free reign of the house?" Hermione questioned wondering if it was some sort of trick on Malfoy's part.

"You can't leave the grounds, neither of us can." Draco shrugged. "I thought it would be easier if you could come and go as you pleased, that way we can just ignore each other."

"Ignoring you would be good." Hermione muttered. She was tempted by the free reign of the house, she wasn't keen on the idea of having to ask Malfoy every time she needed to use the bathroom. "Fine, I'll take the easy way." She finally said.

"Good. Just stay out of my room and away from me and we'll be fine." Draco sneered.

"As if I'd want to go anywhere near you or your room." Hermione sniped back.

"Good, keep it that way." Draco snapped, turning and leaving the room.

Hermione followed Draco to the door and watched the blond disappear into the room next door, the door slamming behind him.

"This is going to be fun." Hermione muttered, wandering across the hallway and entering the bathroom.

The bathroom was small with pale blue walls. Despite the size it still managed to house a toilet, sink, bath and shower. Hermione checked behind the door, relieved to find a lock on the door. At least she could still lock the door when she was in the bathroom, the last thing she wanted was for Malfoy to walk in on her.

Hermione left the bathroom and looked around the hallway upstairs, there was only the three doors which house two bedrooms and a bathroom. Hermione glanced at the closed door, wondering if Malfoy was still in his room or whether he had emerged. She hadn't seen or heard him pass by the bathroom so she was hoping he was still in his room, Hermione wanted to explore the house she was being held hostage in but she wanted to do it without interruptions.

Deciding that Malfoy was still in his room, Hermione set off down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs Hermione found herself in a brightly lit hallway, the front door was directly opposite the stairs and there were two doors on either side of the hallway. Hermione decided to start on the door nearest the stairs on her left hand side.

Hermione walked into the room that was an open plan dining room and kitchen. There was also an archway in the room that led directly through to a large sitting room. Hermione wandered around the dining table, noticing the glass doors which led out into an expanse of green lawn. Hermione walked straight through the dining room into the kitchen.

The kitchen was bright and modern and Hermione found the cupboards and fridge fully stocked with food. As hungry as Hermione was she was still unsure of eating the food, she was after all a prisoner and she didn't really fancy being poisoned. Leaving the food alone Hermione wandered through the archway and into the front room.

Like the other rooms the front room was warm and cheerful, with its neutral shades in the decoration. Hermione had been pleasantly surprised with the house so far, she was expecting a dark miserable place that was filled with dark objects but the house she was being held hostage in seemed warm and welcoming.

Hermione moved to the front window and looked out at the neat front garden. The white mist surrounding the house was still a mystery to Hermione, one she was fully intending to solve. Hermione knew if she had any chance of escape she would need to work out what the mist was.

Hermione took one final look around the room before she headed out of the door in the front room. When she emerged in the hallway she realised that the door in the front room was the second door on the left hand side of the hall. Hermione walked cross the hallway and entered the first door on the right hand side.

Hermione gasped in pleasure at the sight that greeted her. She had just entered a magnificent library with book shelves running all the way to the ceiling. There was a spiral staircase in the middle of the room leading up to a second floor. Hermione looked around the room in wonder, chuckling softly when she realised it reminded her of the library in the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

Hermione wandered around the room, pulling books of the shelves at random to find they ranged in all sorts of subjects. She found text books, fiction novels, old historical books, biographies of famous witches and wizards and even a couple of classic muggle books.

After half an hour Hermione left the room, deciding if she didn't explore the final room soon she might lose herself in the gorgeous library. Hermione once again found herself in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione quickly glanced up the stairs before she entered the final doorway.

The last room was ornately decorated in purple and silver. There was a large window looking out on the back garden which let the sunlight stream into the room. Dotted around the room were several shelves and dressers, all holding expensive looking trinkets and ornaments. There were also two long sofa's in the room but Hermione's eyes were drawn to the grand piano that sat in the centre of the room.

Hermione walked over to the magnificent instrument and ran her fingers along the smooth wood it was made from. Wondering if it was in tune Hermione tried the piano, pressing a few keys. Hermione smiled when she realised it was in tune, she had learnt to play the piano when she was younger and was looking forward to trying this one out.

Hermione decided she would try the piano later, right now she couldn't ignore her hunger any more so she was going to have to hope that the food on the kitchen wasn't poisoned. Hermione headed back to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich and drink. Once she had finished the food she headed back to the library, if she was hoping to escape she needed to figure out where she was and what sort of magic was protecting the house.

* * *

Draco paced his room, which is what he had been doing since he came back into the room after discovering the identity of his prisoner. After his last conversation with his mother he had secretly been hoping that the prisoner would be someone he could ask for help to escape his terrible life. Instead his prisoner had been one of the last people who would ever consider helping him, unless of course Draco could bring himself to throw himself on Granger's mercy and beg for her help.

Draco wasn't stupid he knew that Granger was the most compassionate of the golden trio and was his best chance of gaining support from the three Gryffindors. However he couldn't deny he had spent the last six years bullying her and her friends. Any compassion she might have felt towards his situation would surely be compromised by her personal feelings of animosity towards him.

Draco sat down on the bed, feeling depressed. His best chance of escaping this life had evaporated the moment he opened the bedroom door and found Hermione Granger on the other side. Draco knew he could still try to connect with Granger and convince her to help him but he honestly wasn't sure if they could actually communicate without resorting to petty name calling and arguing.

After sitting on his bed for nearly an hour weighing up his situation, Draco stood up and wandered to the window. He looked out over the garden towards the mysterious white mist. Maybe he should concentrate of working out what sort of magic protected the house before he decided what to do with Granger, after all the bossy brunette had just been kidnapped and was still likely adjusting to her new situation.

Draco decided to explore the rest of the house, hoping to find answers as he went. Draco headed downstairs and followed Hermione's exact route round the house. When he entered the kitchen he picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and ate it as he continued to look around the house.

Draco was tempted by the library when he first entered but left after a minute or two to check out the last room. After spending a few minutes in the music room, admiring the piano he was longing to play, Draco returned to the library.

Draco began looking through the bookshelves, searching for any books which could possibly help him with the magic surrounding the house. After nearly half an hour's searching Draco left the library with several books but he had failed to notice the brunette witch, partially obscured by a shelf, sitting curled up by the window watching him with curiosity.

When Draco returned to his room he placed the books on the floor. Kicking off his shoes he laid back on the bed and picked up the first book in his pile. Draco continued reading for several hours before he became too tired to carry on. About an hour before he finished reading he had heard Granger in the bathroom and noticed her light had gone off shortly after she had emerged from the room. After visiting the bathroom himself Draco returned to his room and got undressed before he climbed into bed and tried to get to sleep in the strange bed.

* * *

Hours after putting her light off and settling down in bed Hermione lay in the dark, thinking about what she had witnessed earlier in the library. She was sure that Malfoy didn't even know she was in the room as he didn't look in her direction. Instead he searched through the books, muttering about wards and protective magic. From what Hermione could see and hear it sounded like Malfoy was doing the same as her and searching for a way out of the house.

Hermione had no idea what Malfoy's life was like but she didn't think Voldemort would have been too happy with him after his failure to kill Dumbledore. Maybe babysitting her in an isolated house was part of Malfoy's punishment.

Hermione was beginning to suspect that he hadn't been lying when he said he knew nothing about why she was here or where they were. It had only just occurred to her but when he had told her she couldn't leave the grounds he had also mentioned neither could he. Maybe the Slytherin was just as much of a prisoner as she was.

Hermione rolled over and tried once again to get to sleep. Just as she was drifting off she heard a loud scream that jolted her to full awareness. Hermione sat bolt upright in bed as she listened to the silent house. When a second scream sounded Hermione turned her head to the wall that separated her room from Malfoy's.

Hermione listened as Malfoy continued to scream, begging someone to stop doing something. Hermione was pretty sure the blond was having a nightmare but she was unsure about what to do. Earlier he had made it quite clear that she wasn't to enter his room and Hermione had no idea how he would react if he knew she was aware of his dreams.

Hermione sat in bed listening to the heart wrenching screams coming from the room next to her. Hermione had just decided that she didn't care about Malfoy's reaction, she was going to check on him regardless, when he emitted a particularly loud scream before silence descended on the house. Hermione paused half out of bed, unsure of what to do, when she heard Malfoy's bedroom door open and heard the blond enter the bathroom.

Hermione settled back into bed as she heard the water running in the bathroom for several minutes. She instinctively knew that Malfoy wouldn't appreciate her going to check on him now so she stayed curled up in bed. Hermione had nearly drifted off to sleep when she heard the tap turn off and Malfoy emerged from the bathroom.

When Hermione heard Malfoy hovering outside her bedroom door she shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She didn't want him to know that she had heard his nightmares as she suspected it would only make things more difficult between them. Hermione kept her eyes shut and her breathing even when Malfoy pushed open the door slightly to check on her.

Hermione didn't open her eyes until she heard Malfoy return to his own room. Hermione then lay awake for several more hours as she wondered what had caused Malfoy to have such horrific dreams.

* * *

**A/N - Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story, it really helps keep me motivated. One reviewer asked about the change in rating, I've changed the rating because at the minute I'm not totally sure how the relationship between Hermione and Draco will evolve. There's a good chance that it will go back to being rated M but until I really start focusing on this story I have no idea whether things will develop the way I originally intended them to.**


	6. Chapter 6

Draco stood in the bathroom looking at himself in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot and the dark circles under them indicated the lack of sleep he was suffering from. Since the terrible night of Dumbledore's death Draco hadn't had a good night's sleep and it wasn't as if he had been sleeping trouble free in the months leading up to that night.

As Draco cast a few glamour spells to hide his tired appearance he wondered if Granger was aware of his bad night. The horrifying screams had finally woken Draco up but he wasn't sure if the screams were part of the nightmare or if he was actually making a noise in his sleep. The previous night when he checked on Granger she seemed to be sleeping but he wasn't totally convinced that his bad night had gone unnoticed.

Draco knew the logical thing would be to talk to Granger and ask her outright about the previous night but by doing that he had to reveal something he had no wish to discuss. Draco decided the easiest thing to do would be ignore Granger and to not mention his nightmares unless she brought them up.

Satisfied with his decision Draco removed his pyjama pants and stepped into the shower. After spending quite a while under the steaming hot water Draco emerged from the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist. Draco picked up his pyjama pants and left the bathroom to return to his own room. Draco hadn't even considered the possibility of running into the other person in the house until he was in the hallway and spotted Granger's open bedroom door. Draco took one look at the open door and rushed into his own room, shutting the door firmly behind him.

After getting dressed Draco left his bedroom to get some breakfast. As he passed Granger's open door Draco couldn't resist taking a quick look inside, finding the room empty. Draco idly wondered how long Granger had been up as he made his way downstairs and towards the kitchen.

When he reached the kitchen Draco stopped in the doorway. Granger was sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice in front of her. Draco hesitated slightly before he walked across the kitchen and began preparing his own breakfast. Steadfastly ignoring the witch sitting behind him Draco made his own breakfast of cereal and coffee.

When he was finished making his breakfast Draco realised he had two choices, he could either sit at the table with Granger or leave and take his meal into another room. Draco didn't fancy carrying everything into another room so he turned around and placed his breakfast on the table and sat down.

Draco deliberately kept his head down as he ate his breakfast, a couple of times he thought Granger was looking at him but when he slyly looked up she seemed to be engrossed in her own meal. After eating in silence Draco used magic to wash and dry his dishes before he stood up and left the room, never once acknowledging the brunette witch who was still sitting at the table.

After leaving the kitchen Draco decided to go outside and explore the wards surrounding the property. Draco walked out of the front door and into the front garden, he looked up at the sky and discovered the white mist seemed to form a dome around the property. Draco wondered whether the nice weather was the real weather seeping through the wards or if it was magically enchanted weather.

Draco began walking down the garden path towards the edge of the property line. Draco stopped just before the gate and looked at the white mist more closely. It actually looked to be pretty solid now Draco was standing up close while further away it looked more fluid as if it was moving slightly. Tentatively Draco reached out to touch the white mist so he could figure out whether it was solid or not.

"Fuck." Draco cursed as pain wracked his body the minute his hand came into contact with the mist.

Draco moved his hand as quickly as possible but the tremors of pain were still running through his body. Cursing Draco fell to his knees as the pain intensified. The pain felt exactly like being hit with the Cruciatius curse, something that Draco had plenty of experience dealing with. Draco stayed on the floor for several minutes until the pain had subsided enough for him to stand up.

"Sadistic bastard." Draco muttered, looking at the wards. He was in no doubt that The Dark Lord had deliberately set up wards that would be physically painful if touched.

Draco turned his attention back to the wards. He had now discovered that they looked solid from close up but fluid from further away and when you touched them they weren't solid, his hands went through the wards as though they were actually made of mist. Unfortunately he had also discovered just how painful they were to touch, he shuddered to think what would happened if you actually tried to walk through them.

Draco sighed in disappointment, one thing was for sure, he was definitely stuck in this house with no escape for the foreseeable future. Draco still planned on researching the wards but at least now he actually had some solid information to work with.

Turning back towards the house Draco began to walk back indoors, he planned on spending the rest of the day doing research with the books he had in his room. As Draco walked back towards the house he failed to notice a figure watching him from the corner of one of the downstairs widows.

* * *

When Hermione first woke she lay in bed thinking about the previous night. As much as Hermione wanted to ask Malfoy about the dreams and check he was alright she knew the blond Slytherin wouldn't welcome her interference. Instead Hermione vowed to keep away from Malfoy and hope the nightmares weren't a nightly occurrence. If it was something that happened regularly she wasn't sure if she would be able to ignore someone who was suffering so much, even if it was Malfoy.

Satisfied with her decision to avoid her housemate Hermione got out of bed and gathered her things for the bathroom. Hermione listened at the door for any noise for several minutes before deciding the coast was clear. Quickly Hermione ran to the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

Twenty minutes later Hermione left the bathroom and returned to her bedroom. As Hermione was searching the wardrobe for clothes she heard Malfoy leave his room and enter the bathroom. As she got dressed Hermione was very aware of the noises of Malfoy taking a shower just across the hallway. Hermione had just opened her bedroom door when she heard the shower shut off and moments later the bathroom door began to open. Not wanting to run into a half-naked Malfoy, Hermione quickly ducked behind the open door and only emerged once she had heard the other bedroom door close.

Hermione quickly made her way downstairs and into the kitchen. Making her breakfast she hoped that Malfoy took a long time to get dressed and that she would have finished eating before he emerged from his bedroom. Unfortunately for Hermione she had only just sat down at the kitchen table when she heard footsteps on the stairs.

Hermione kept her head down as Malfoy entered the room and began to prepare his own breakfast. She was hoping that he would leave once he saw she was sitting there but Hermione was shocked when he sat down opposite her and began to eat.

Hermione tried to concentrate on her own breakfast but she couldn't help stealing glances at Malfoy. At first glance the blond looked to be his normal self but Hermione soon spotted the subtle glimmer of a glamour charm around his eyes.

Hermione wondered whether Malfoy would speak at all but he didn't. He ate his breakfast without even glancing her way and when he was finished he used magic to deal with his dishes and left the room. Hermione muttered to herself about the unfairness of not having her wand as she had to wash and dry her own dishes by hand while Malfoy used magic.

Hermione was just about to wash her dishes when she heard the front door open. Curious she left her dirty dishes in the sink and went to investigate. Hermione entered the front room and walked towards the window. Peeking out of the corner of the window she spotted Malfoy standing outside staring up at the sky.

Hermione watched Malfoy as he made his way towards the gate at the end of the garden. When he reached out and touched the white mist Hermione clearly heard his curse as he pulled his hand back. Hermione then watched in shock as he sank to his knees in obvious pain. Hermione was debating whether she should go and help him when Malfoy suddenly pulled himself to his feet. Hermione thought he still looked in pain as he studied the wards before turning and heading back towards the house.

When Malfoy started heading back towards the house Hermione quickly moved away from the window, she didn't want to be caught spying. Hurrying back to the kitchen Hermione washed and dried her dishes as she listened to the blond re-enter the house and head upstairs.

Once Hermione was sure that Malfoy was settled in his room she quietly opened the back door and ventured outside. Like Malfoy the first thing she did upon leaving the house was look up and realise that the white mist covered the whole of the property in some sort of force field. Hermione walked over to the side of the garden to study the mist more closely but because of what she had witnessed when Malfoy had touched it she kept her hands safely away from the white mist.

Once she had studied the mist for a bit Hermione headed back into the house and went straight to the library. Hermione was determined to learn about the wards and how to break them. Yesterday had proved pretty fruitless in her research but now she had a few more details to go on. Hermione searched for some parchment and a quill and made a list of everything she had learnt about the white mist surrounding the house.

Using the knowledge she had complied Hermione set about researching the protective spells around the house. Hermione worked for hours but couldn't find anything useful. Every time she thought she was progressing she would find something that didn't fit with what she knew about the white mist. Frustrated Hermione put down the book she was studying and debated the other problems she was facing.

Hermione knew she had to escape the house as she was extremely vulnerable staying here. Hermione was still unsure of why she had actually been kidnapped but the ideas she had thought of weren't pleasant. She knew the most likely scenario was that Voldemort would use her to lure Harry to him so he could kill him. The thought of being used to kill her best friend upset Hermione deeply and she vowed that Voldemort would never get a chance to use her in such a way.

One of Hermione's biggest problems was Malfoy. There was no way she would be able to escape without him realising what she was doing. Hermione knew the blond Slytherin was very clever, the previous year had proved it without a doubt, fixing the vanishing cabinet the way he had done was bordering on genius.

Hermione was actually beginning to wonder if she could try and get him to help her escape. Hermione was confident if they combined their knowledge and skills that her and Malfoy could figure a way out of here, but would he be willing to help her. From what she had witnessed yesterday and this morning he was just as much a prisoner here as her and he was clearly researching the wards, just like her. Hermione also knew that everything that happened the previous year wasn't something he wanted to do and he was obviously still suffering if his nightmares were any indication.

Hermione was convinced that Malfoy would love a way out of his situation but she wasn't sure if he would help her. Over the years he had made it pretty clear what he thought of her and none of it was conducive to working together. Hermione was also wary of approaching Malfoy, if she had gotten things wrong and he was happy being a Death Eater then she would be in serious trouble.

Hermione knew that she would eventually have to make a decision. She would either have to figure things out alone and try to find some way of operating without Malfoy figuring out what she was doing or she would have to ask Malfoy for help. The only problem was Hermione still had no idea whether she could trust the blond Slytherin.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N - Sorry for the slow updates with this story. I am busy working on other stories so this one is on the back burner I'm afraid. I have a couple more chapters already written and the main storyline is already plotted so although updates may be slower than normal this story will definitely be finished. (I know there's nothing worse to be reading a story that never gets finished so I promise that definitely won't happen with any of my stories) I also know people are eager for Dramione interaction, the next chapter features a brief conversation between the pair which is the start of regular interaction between them. **

* * *

Harry sat at the kitchen table in The Burrow drumming his fingertips on the wooden surface in frustration. The Order were due to have a meeting but Kingsley and Tonks hadn't yet shown up. Harry had wanted to start without them but Remus was insistent that they waited for everyone.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Ginny asked, sitting down next to Harry. Since their brief relationship that Harry had ended in fear of the Voldemort using her to get to him the former couple had rarely spoken but Ginny still cared for Harry.

"I'm fine." Harry muttered sarcastically. "Hermione's now been missing a week and no-one seems to care."

"Of course people care." Ginny insisted.

"Yeah they care so much that they don't even bother to show up at meetings." Harry snarled.

"I'm sure Tonks and Kingsley have a good reason for running late." Ginny said, standing back up.

Harry muttered something as Ginny walked away from the table. Ginny was just as worried about Hermione as Harry was but he seemed to be taking it harder than everyone else. In the past week Harry had snapped at nearly everyone as he felt that they weren't doing enough to find Hermione.

Harry sat at the table alone for another ten minutes before Ron slid into the seat next to him. Harry turned round to speak to his friend when he realised several other people were taking their places around the table. Finally it looked like the meeting was about to begin, much to Harry's pleasure.

As everyone settled down Harry glared at Kingsley and Tonks as they entered the room. Kingsley sat down at the other end of the table but Tonks sat next to Remus practically opposite Harry. Harry waited until they were both seated before speaking.

"Why were you late? What was more important than trying to find Hermione?" Harry demanded of the two Aurors.

"We were on a raid." Kingsley explained. "We can't neglect our jobs Harry."

"Not that we'll have them for long." Tonks muttered. Everyone knew it would only be a matter of time before Voldemort launched an take-over attempt on the Ministry.

"Sorry." Harry said quietly. "I'm just frustrated with our lack of progress." He knew that everyone was trying their best to find his friend but he couldn't help but worry about what was happening to her.

"We know. We're all frustrated." Molly said soothingly. Hermione was part of their family and she was terribly worried about her.

"I just wish we knew more." Harry sighed. "We know they've got Hermione but we have no idea where she is or what they want from her."

Harry had explained to the Order about the vision he had received from Voldemort. Several of the group had been sceptical about what Harry was telling them but they all agreed they would proceed as though the information was real. Harry was determined that they wouldn't give up on Hermione, he was convinced that she was still alive and he didn't plan on giving up until they had her back.

"Actually we do know one place where she's not being kept. Malfoy Manor." Kingsley said.

"I thought we had no idea about whether Hermione was being held in the Manor, due to its immense security." Minerva McGonagall said.

"We didn't ,until this afternoon." Tonks said. "The raid that held up Kingsley and I was taking place at Malfoy Manor."

"You've been in the Manor." Ron exclaimed. "How?"

"I filed a fake report about receiving information that there were dark materials in the Manor." Kingsley explained. "We then organised a raid quickly and quietly."

"Couldn't you get into trouble for filing fake reports?" Bill Weasley asked.

"Yes, but it was worth it to get inside the Manor." Kingsley said.

"Did you find anything that might help us?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"No." Tonks shook her head sadly. "The Manor was clean and there was no sign of Hermione ever being there."

"Maybe they were expecting you and removed any dark material." Molly said.

"No, they had no idea we were coming." Kingsley said. "Lucius Malfoy was totally unprepared for us."

"If he knew we were coming he would have made sure Narcissa was out of the house." Tonks said. "He was terrified about leaving her alone with any of us."

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Because she's scared. I think given the chance she would come to us for protection." Tonks said, thinking about how nervous and scared Narcissa had been throughout their visit. "Lucius knew that so made sure she was never in any position to ask for help."

"Who cares if Narcissa Malfoy is scared, she should have thought about that before she married a Death Eater." Ron snarled.

"Ron." Molly scolded, appalled by her son's lack of empathy.

"Ron's right." Harry said. "We don't have time to worry about Narcissa Malfoy, we need to concentrate on finding Hermione."

"We will." Remus reassured Harry. "But we can't ignore people if they ask for our help."

"She hasn't asked for our help though." Harry protested, standing up.

"Where are you going Harry?" Molly asked, sensing Harry was ready to leave before much had even been discussed.

"Back to Grimmauld Place. I have things to do." Harry said. "Are you coming Ron?" He asked his best friend.

Ron nodded and stood up, he knew that Harry wanted to get back to making plans. In the last week they had found the location of the locket Horcrux and were currently trying to come up with a plan to snatch it. Harry had spotted the locket in a picture of Dolores Umbridge in The Daily Prophet and the two boys were trying to decide how to get near enough to her to snatch the Horcrux.

Harry and Ron headed into the front room to floo back to Grimmauld Place. Before the boys had a chance to grab the floo powder and step into the flames Remus followed them into the room.

"Harry, can I have a word?" Remus asked.

"As long as you're quick." Harry said, eager to get back to his planning.

"I want you to be careful." Remus said. "Whatever you do you can't go rushing off after Hermione based on what Voldemort is showing you. We don't want a repeat of last time."

Harry looked hurt that Remus would bring up the incident in fifth year that had resulted in Sirius' death. There wasn't a day that went by that Harry didn't regret his rash actions and the consequences that followed them.

"I won't be acting rashly." Harry promised. "But I'll also not be abandoning Hermione, we will find a way to rescue her."

"No-one's going to abandon Hermione. We just all need to work together." Remus said.

Harry nodded before saying goodbye and heading into the green flames. Ron also said goodbye to Remus before he followed his best friend back to Grimmauld Place.

* * *

Draco nervously paced the floor in the front room. It had been exactly a week since he had arrived at the house and he was expecting his aunt to be paying a visit today but so far there was no sign of the witch. It was well past seven o'clock in the evening and Draco was wondering if he had gotten his timings wrong and his aunt was actually due the following day instead.

Draco was actually about to go and find something to eat when a loud crack sounded behind him and his aunt appeared in the middle of the front room.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming." Draco greeted his aunt.

"No such luck, Draco." Bella laughed. "I'll be keeping a very close eye on you and your prisoner."

"Should I always expect you this late?" Draco asked. The days when his aunt was due to visit would be more stress-free if he knew what time to expect her.

"No." Bella shook her head. "I was held up. The Manor was raided by Auror's this afternoon."

"Is mother all right?" Draco asked immediately. His mother's safety was all he was concerned about, if anything had happened to anyone else in his family Draco couldn't have cared less.

"She's fine." Bella said, wondering if Draco was bothered about anything other than his mother. "They didn't find anything incriminating and they certainly didn't find what they were searching for."

"What would that be?" Draco asked curiously.

"The mudblood of course." Bella snapped, unimpressed with Draco's question. She thought it would have been obvious what they were searching for. "Speaking of which, where is she?"

"In her room." Draco replied. "Why did you kidnap Granger? She'll not tell you anything, she's very stubborn."

"We don't expect to get information. Everyone knows the mudblood is the brains behind Potter's exploits, without her he'll struggle to achieve anything." Bella explained. She failed to mention The Dark Lord's plan to taunt Harry as it was nothing to do with her nephew.

"So you're hoping that without Granger, Potter will be less of a threat." Draco said, understanding the logic behind the decision. Draco was well aware that Potter would have perished years ago if it hadn't been for the brainy Gryffindor he was best friends with.

"Yes." Bella nodded. "Now go and get the prisoner, I want to see her with my own eyes." The Dark Lord was very clear on the fact that Bella needed to see the mudblood so he could use the memory to taunt Potter at a later date.

Draco obeyed his aunt, leaving the room to go and get Granger. He just hoped the stubborn witch wouldn't cause problems and get them both punished. Draco was relieved to be out of Voldemort's reach and he didn't want to have to return home where he wouldn't be able to avoid the dark wizard.

* * *

Hermione had spent the afternoon in her bedroom, she passed the time be doing more research into the wards surrounding the property and having an afternoon nap. In the last week Hermione had developed a routine, her mornings were usually spent in the garden or the library but she always spent her afternoons in the bedroom.

Hermione always had a nap in the afternoon because she had yet to experience a whole night's sleep without interruption. Malfoy was still having nightmares and he woke her up every night with his horrific screaming. Hermione could see the effect the dreams were starting to have on Malfoy but she had yet to gather the strength to approach him about them.

Hermione was standing at the window and debating whether to go and get some dinner when the wards suddenly dropped. Hermione barely had time to register the green countryside behind the boundary line before the wards were back in place. Hermione was sure someone had just arrived at the property and she was curious about who it was.

Hermione opened her bedroom door and walked out onto the landing. She could hear the murmur of voices coming from below but she couldn't pinpoint the owner of the voices or what they were saying. Hermione was just about to creep down the stairs when she heard a mad cackle. Hermione froze as she recognised the laugh, it belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange.

Not wanting to see Bellatrix, Hermione retreated to her bedroom and quietly shut the door behind her. Hermione sat on her bed hoping that Bellatrix was just paying a visit and wouldn't be staying long. She was desperately hoping that she wasn't here to swap with Malfoy or tell him that someone else would be coming to guard her.

As crazy as it sounded Hermione felt safe with Malfoy in the house. Hermione knew that he wouldn't hurt her and that he was actually suffering just as much, if not more, than her. For the past week Hermione and Malfoy had existed in peaceful harmony as they pretty much ignored each other. Hermione was unsure if another Death Eater would let her wander the house freely and not bother her.

Hermione didn't have much time to debate the reason for Bellatrix's visit as she heard footsteps on the stairs. After living in the same house as Malfoy for a week she knew it was him coming up the stairs as she recognised the tread of his footsteps. Hermione listened as the footsteps approached her door before they stopped and he knocked on the door. Hermione was surprised that Malfoy had knocked on the door rather than just entering the room. Impressed with the blond's manners Hermione went to open the door, even though she really didn't want to.

"You're wanted downstairs." Draco said as soon as Hermione opened the door.

"What if I don't want to go downstairs." Hermione said, not wishing to see Bellatrix.

"Then I'll have to make you." Draco sighed as he realised that the stubborn witch in front of him might prove to be a problem.

Hermione folded her arms over her chest as she stared at Malfoy, silently challenging him to make her do something she didn't want to do.

"Things would be a lot easier for both of us if you just came downstairs with me." Draco said, running his hand through his hair nervously.

Hermione continued to stand unmoving. She was impressed that Malfoy hadn't immediately whipped out his wand and threatened her but she was still reluctant to face his mad aunt.

"Please, Granger." Draco said quietly. Asking her politely was his last resort and Draco knew he would have to use force if she didn't give in.

Hermione looked totally shocked at Malfoy's words, she knew there was no way to refuse him without being rude. "Okay." She nodded.

"Thank you."

Hermione barely caught the quiet words as Draco turned round and headed for the stairs. As Hermione followed the blond down the stairs she began to wonder if it was time to consider trying to get him onside in her escape plan, not that she actually knew how she was going to escape yet.

Draco led Hermione into the front room where Bellatrix was standing beside the window. Bellatrix turned to watch as her nephew led the mudblood into the room, interestingly she seemed to be following him of her own free will instead of being forced. As Draco stepped further into the room Hermione hovered in the doorway, not wanting to be anywhere near to the older witch in the room.

"Everything looks to be in order." Bellatrix said, staring long and hard at Hermione. She wanted to make sure The Dark Lord had good enough memories of the mudblood to manipulate into something to taunt Potter with.

Bellatrix stared at Hermione for several more minutes before turning her attention to Draco. Hermione noticed that Malfoy visibly flinched when Bellatrix stepped closer to him and ruffled his blond hair.

"Keep up the good work, Draco." Bella smirked at her nephew, revelling in the fact that she made him nervous.

Bella stepped back from Draco. Taking one final look at Hermione, she smirked evilly at the brunette witch before she dropped the wards and apparated away with a crack.

Hermione stared at the spot where Bellatrix had been standing, wondering why she had made such a fuss about wanting her to come downstairs. Apart from staring intently at her Bellatrix hadn't uttered a word to Hermione.

Draco was also wondering the same as Hermione, he had no idea why his aunt had requested to see Granger when all she did was stare at her. Shaking his head at his aunt's peculiar behaviour Draco headed into the kitchen to find some food.

Hermione waited until Draco had sat down at the table with his meal before she headed into the kitchen to make something for herself. After making herself a sandwich Hermione sat down opposite Draco and the pair ate their food in silence before they went their separate ways for the night.


	8. Chapter 8

At first glance the small cottage appeared empty but upon closer inspection there was a faint light visible in the front window. Inside the poky cottage sat Severus Snape as he waited for his guest. On the coffee table were two glasses of wine and a plate of cheese and crackers. To the casual observer the scene looked set for a lovers meeting, rather than a meeting between two friends.

Severus heard the familiar crack of apparition outside before he heard the front door open. A few seconds later Narcissa Malfoy entered the front room, taking off her travelling cloak and placing it over a nearby chair.

"Any news?" Narcissa asked as she sat down on the sofa.

"You'll be the first to know if I hear anything." Severus replied.

Narcissa had been asking Severus the same question for the last three weeks, ever since Draco had left on his newest mission. Severus had been surprised when a tearful Narcissa had appeared at his cottage the same night Draco had been called away. Narcissa had poured her heart out to Severus and the wizard had tried his best to comfort her. Since then Narcissa's visits had been a nightly ritual, one that Severus found himself looking forward to each day.

"All I can get out of Bella is that he's fine." Narcissa sighed, picking up her wine glass.

"I don't suppose she can actually tell you any more than that." Severus said, knowing that Voldemort would have sworn Bellatrix to secrecy regarding Draco's whereabouts.

"No, I don't suppose she can." Narcissa agreed. "Although I'm sure that Lucius could find out about Draco."

"Can he not?" Severus asked. "He has been getting more involved with The Dark Lord's plans again."

"All Lucius is bothered about is regaining favour with The Dark Lord. He's not bothered about Draco and I. As long as we're out of the way and obeying orders, Lucius is happy." Narcissa said, sounding disgusted with her husband's attitude towards her and their son.

"I'm sure that's not true, Lucius loves you and Draco." Severus said, trying not to sound as sceptical as he felt. Years ago Severus wouldn't have doubted that Lucius loved his wife and son but these days his old friend was fairly distant with his family.

"Maybe once." Narcissa shrugged. "Now he doesn't even realise I'm not at home on an evening."

"Surely he notices that you're not at the Manor." Severus said.

"Not lately." Narcissa shook her head sadly. "Half of the time he doesn't even bother coming to bed before the early hours of the morning."

"Then the man's an idiot." Severus said. "He has a beautiful wife and a great son, if he doesn't realise what he's got then he's missing out."

"Thank you." Narcissa smiled at Severus as she tried to control the blush on her face as Severus described her as beautiful.

"Do you know what Lucius is getting involved with?" Severus asked. Over the last few weeks he had started to get the impression that Voldemort was planning something but he seemed to be keeping the plans to a select few, Lucius being one of the few he was confiding in.

"Something to do with the Ministry." Narcissa shrugged. "To be honest I'm not in the slightest bit bothered what Lucius is up to, I'm more concerned about Draco."

"He'll be fine, Narcissa." Severus reassured the witch. "Hopefully he'll have had the sense to try and connect with Granger, she could prove useful in helping Draco escape this life."

"The prisoner is Hermione Granger." Narcissa exclaimed, it was the first time she had heard the identity of the person Draco was charged with babysitting.

"I think so." Severus said. "It's only rumours that I've heard, but apparently the Order were asking around Diagon Alley if anyone had seen Granger the day after the kidnapping took place. Logic dictates that she's the prisoner."

"Do you think she'll be willing to help Draco?" Narcissa asked. "I know for a fact that they've never gotten along."

"I'm sure that as long as Draco doesn't do anything rash that Granger will give him a chance, she's a pretty compassionate person." Severus explained. When he had first heard the rumours surrounding the identity of the prisoner Severus had immediately been relieved, he knew that together Granger and Draco were clever enough to escape wherever they were being held but more importantly the Gryffindor would be more likely than most to give Draco a chance.

"Let's just hope that Draco doesn't mess up." Narcissa sighed, taking a large drink of her wine and draining the glass.

"I'm sure he won't." Severus said, topping up Narcissa's glass. "Draco wants out of being a Death Eater and he's smart enough to realise that Granger is his way out."

Narcissa nodded, hoping that Severus was right. Narcissa was just worried that despite the promise he had made to her before leaving Draco would let his worries about her safety affect his judgement and he wouldn't take the opportunity to escape.

* * *

Hermione awoke with a start, her nightmare fresh in her mind. Hermione had dreamt that she was running from Voldemort but everywhere she went she ran into the dead bodies of everyone she cared about. Hermione shook her head, trying to dislodge the horrid images that were currently inside her head.

Getting out of bed Hermione headed for the bathroom where she got a drink of water. Hermione stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she couldn't help but notice the irony of how she was woken up. Normally Malfoy's nightmares woke her up but the one night that the blond boy had been silent was the one night that she had experienced nightmares herself.

Finishing in the bathroom Hermione headed back out into the hallway. Hermione stopped in surprise when she noticed the door leading to Malfoy's room was open, in the three weeks they had been in the house she had never seen the door open. Hermione's natural curiosity got the better of her and she tiptoed over to the bedroom, carefully poking her head into the room. Hermione was relieved to find the room empty, despite things improving between her and Malfoy over the last few weeks she still didn't think he would appreciate her being in his room.

Ever since Bellatrix's first visit a fortnight ago things had slowly started to change between Hermione and Draco. After the visit Hermione was left in no doubt that Malfoy was as much of a prisoner as her. Malfoy also seemed to recognise that Hermione understood his situation and realised that he wasn't guarding her by choice, it was something he was forced to do.

For the first few days nothing much changed between the pair, although the silence between them was less tense. A few days after Bellatrix's visit Hermione entered the kitchen exactly as Malfoy was making coffee, instead of just making his own without speaking Malfoy surprised Hermione by offering her a cup. That simple gesture changed the dynamic between the pair of them and ever since both of them had been civil towards the other.

While Hermione wouldn't go as far as to say they were friends, they no longer ignored each other but most of their interactions only consisted of greetings and polite questions. Hermione still hadn't quite plucked up the courage to discuss anything more substantial with Malfoy. While she was desperate to ask about his nightmares and mention the subject of escaping Hermione wasn't confident enough that her truce with Malfoy was strong enough yet to broach such touchy topics.

Hermione withdrew her head from the open doorway and was just about to head back to bed when she noticed the distant sound of music. Hermione stood still as she listened carefully, trying to work out where the music was coming from. Her first thought was that Malfoy had a radio on downstairs but the more she listened she recognised the sounds as coming from a piano.

Hermione stood at the top of the stairs for several minutes debating whether or not to venture down them. Eventually Hermione's curiosity got the better of her and she quietly tiptoed down the stairs. The further down the stairs she went the louder the music got, Hermione didn't recognise the tune but figured that Malfoy was playing music from the wizarding world.

The door to the music room was open so Hermione could easily see into the room. Hermione stopped in the doorway, trying not to gawp at the sight of Malfoy sitting playing the piano. Malfoy only seemed to be wearing his pyjama pants, leaving his top half bare. Hermione hadn't given a great deal of thought to Malfoy's physique before but she hadn't expected him to be in such good shape. Hermione had seen both Harry and Ron topless recently and both of her best friends were pretty scrawny in the torso department. Hermione had half expected Malfoy to be in the same shape as he always appeared to be pretty slender but obviously kept himself in good shape, unlike her friends.

Tearing her eyes away from Malfoy's half naked form Hermione concentrated on the music. Hermione herself could play the piano but listening to Malfoy she was aware that she was nowhere near as good as the blond boy, he was actually extremely talented. Hermione stood watching and listening for several minutes until Malfoy suddenly stopped playing and turned to face Hermione. Hermione jumped slightly as Malfoy's grey eyes locked onto hers, she was unsure of what his reaction would be to finding her watching him.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?" Draco asked.

"No." Hermione shook her head. "I had a nightmare. I can never go straight back to sleep after a bed dream."

"I know the feeling." Draco muttered under his breath.

Hermione knew that Malfoy hadn't meant for her to hear him, but seeing as she had she decided to use the opportunity to broach the subject of his nightmares.

"I suppose you do." Hermione said, venturing further into the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked, an cold edge evident in his voice.

"I know you regularly have nightmares, I've heard you." Hermione admitted.

"What have you heard?" Draco asked, a faint blush appearing on his pale cheeks.

"I've heard you screaming and begging someone to stop doing something." Hermione said.

Malfoy nodded at Hermione and she noticed he seemed relieved by what she had said, clearly he had been worrying that she had heard something more than his screams.

"Do you want to talk about them?" Hermione asked.

"No, Granger, I don't." Draco said firmly. "We may be learning to get along but I hardly think we're close enough to be baring our souls to each other."

"I guess not." Hermione shrugged. She doubted whether Malfoy was close enough to anybody to let them in and confide in them about the horrors that haunted his nights.

"If we've finished the bonding session, it's time I got back to bed." Draco said, standing up.

Hermione nodded her agreement and turned to leave the music room. As Hermione walked back up the stairs to bed she was very aware of Malfoy following her. When Hermione reached her bedroom door she turned around to face Malfoy.

"Night, Malfoy." She said.

Malfoy looked at Hermione for a few minutes before he finally spoke. "Night, Granger." He said, disappearing into his room and shutting the door behind him.

Hermione went into her own bedroom, contemplating the conversation with Malfoy. He hadn't reacted badly when she revealed that she knew about his nightmares and Hermione had gotten the impression that there was something else he wanted to talk about just before they parted on the hallway.

Hermione settled back into bed, wondering if the time had finally come to speak to Malfoy about escaping. Hermione knew the time was coming when she was going to have to seriously work on escaping and she knew things would go much smoother if she had Malfoy on side. As she drifted off to sleep Hermione vowed to speak with Malfoy the next day, she only hoped that he agreed to help her.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N - This chapter is purely about Harry and Ron and what they are getting up to without Hermione. This will be the last time the boys feature until Hermione is reunited with them. The next chapter goes back to Hermione and Draco and the upcoming chapters are solely about them and their growing relationship and plans. Despite the lack of Dramione in this chapter I hope people still enjoy it.**

* * *

Ron and Harry sat at the kitchen table in Grimmauld Place, putting the final steps of their plan into action. For the last week the two boys had been making plans to snatch the locket Horcrux from Umbridge. Eventually they had settled for a plan, though neither of them were particularly confident it would work. The plan was simple, sneak into the Ministry and try to get the locket from Umbridge. They had decided the only way to gain access to the Ministry was to impersonate someone who worked at the Ministry, luckily they had access to a few of them within the Order.

When Harry had first told Ron his plan the redhead was worried about the use of Polyjuice Potion. Despite having brewed it in second year Ron knew that it was actually Hermione who had done all the work, he and Harry had just watched the witch at work. Ron wasn't at all convinced that he and Harry could brew the potion successfully, to be honest they were both terrible at potions and the whole idea seemed like a disaster waiting to happen to Ron.

Harry quickly calmed his friend down by producing several vials of ready-made Polyjuice Potion. Harry explained that he had stolen the vials from Slughorn's classroom at the end of the last school year. By that point Harry, Ron and Hermione had made the decision to search for Horcrux's and Harry had procured the potion as he thought it might come in handy on their hunt.

After Harry solved the Polyjuice problem the duo had to decide who to impersonate when they visited the Ministry. The obvious candidates were Tonks, Kingsley, Arthur and Percy. When Harry and Ron discussed it they had to dismiss Kingsley as he was bald so they had no hair to put into the potion. They also disliked the idea of using a woman so they were left with Arthur and Percy. With their identities picked Ron and Harry set about making the rest of their plans.

Unfortunately as they made their plans they discovered a problem with impersonating Percy. He worked in the same department as Umbridge and didn't take many days off, the chance that they might run into him while at the Ministry were too risky and neither Harry or Ron wanted to run the risk of bumping into him while impersonating him. That left them with one choice, Tonks.

"I suppose it's time." Harry sighed, eying the vial of Polyjuice Potion that was sitting in front of him.

"Yeah, let's get on with this." Ron said, picking up his own vial of potion.

"Are you sure we shouldn't swap potions?" Harry asked, stopping Ron just as he was about to drink his.

"No, Harry." Ron shook his head. "We tossed a coin and you lost. Drink up."

With a wicked grin at Harry, Ron threw back his potion and immediately gagged on the taste, he had forgotten just how vile a potion it was. Ron felt his skin begin to bubble and his body begin to change shape. Less than five minutes after taking the potion Ron found himself standing in his father's body.

"Hurry up Harry, we don't have all day." Ron said, magically adjusting his clothes to fit his father's frame.

Harry took another look at the potion before shutting his eyes and tipping it down his neck. Throughout his transformation Harry kept his eyes firmly shut, only opening them when he heard Ron laughing.

"It's not funny." Harry said, opening his eyes. "It feels really weird being a girl."

"It looks weird, seeing Tonks in your clothes." Ron laughed.

Harry looked down to find Tonks smaller frame swamped in his clothes. Shutting his eyes and picturing Tonks regular clothes Harry transfigured his own clothes to match something the witch would wear. Opening his eyes Harry looked down, relived to see he looked fairly normal and could easily pass as Tonks.

"Let's go." Harry said, heading towards the fireplace.

Flooing to the Ministry Harry and Ron prayed that they hadn't made a mistake and everything would run smoothly. They were confident that they wouldn't run into either Tonks or Arthur as they had planned things carefully. Tonks was busy with Order business so they were confident she wouldn't be in the Ministry, and if anyone did question her appearance they were going to say she had forgotten some paperwork and had briefly popped in to get it. Although both Harry and Ron were hoping that as an Auror no one would question Tonks, they knew it wasn't unusual for Auror's to disappear for long periods of time and then show up at the Ministry randomly. The boys also planned to use the forgotten paperwork excuse for Arthur as well, it was Ron's father's day off and they both knew for a fact that he was safely ensconced at home.

Once they arrived in the atrium Harry and Ron shared a quick look before they headed towards the lifts, trying not to attract any unwanted attention. As they entered the lift several people greeted them but no one seemed surprised to see them. Harry and Ron edged themselves to the back of the lift and by the time they had reached their desired floor they were the only two people still inside the metal box.

Arriving on the floor where Umbridge worked Harry and Ron tried to act like the people they were impersonating and not like two people who shouldn't be in the Ministry. Luckily as they had timed their entrance to lunch time the floor was practically deserted, the few people who were still working didn't gave the pair a second glance as they made their way towards Umbridge's office.

Harry and Ron came to a stop, before they rounded the corner that led to Umbridge's office. The boys had gotten their information regarding the location of Umbridge's office by quizzing Percy on his job. Ron and Harry had to suffer through hours of Percy boasting about himself but finally they had gotten the information regarding Umbridge they needed, Percy was none the wiser having thought that Ron and Harry were just interested in what he had to say.

"Go on then." Harry said, nudging Ron. They had decided that Ron would be the one to go and see if Umbridge was in her office.

Trying to act nonchalant Ron walked round the corner, trying not to stare as he passed Umbridge's office. Once Ron had walked passed Umbridge's office and determined the witch was sitting at her desk he bent over and headed back to Harry, making sure Umbridge wouldn't see him pass her window for the second time in a minute.

"She's there." Ron said, arriving back at Harry's side.

"Let's get on then." Harry said. "I hope this works."

"So do I." Ron said. "Good luck."

Looking around the corridor Ron found a large plant to position himself behind, making sure he could see the door to Umbridge's office. Once he was in position he sent Harry the thumbs up as his friend began to set the next part of their plan into motion.

Once Ron was set Harry looked around the corridor for something that would get Umbridge's attention. Harry was planning on using his disguise as Tonks to full advantage, the witch was notoriously clumsy so Harry was going to use that to get close to Umbridge. Spotting a vase of flowers on a nearby shelf Harry deliberately knocked it onto the floor, causing it to shatter with a huge crash.

Harry looked at Ron, checking they had gotten a reaction from Umbridge. When Ron nodded, Harry positioned himself beside the corner. When Ron confirmed that Umbridge was heading his way Harry set off walking, making sure to crash directly into the plump witch who he so detested.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." Harry said, subtly checking that Umbridge was wearing the locket.

"You should be more careful." Umbridge snapped. "How you became an Auror is a mystery to me, you're far too clumsy."

"Sorry." Harry replied, subtly getting out his wand and pointing it at Umbridge.

As Umbridge continued to moan about Tonks' clumsiness Harry muttered an incantation under his breath causing the locket Umbridge was wearing to snap and fall to the floor. Ron was watching closely and already had a cushioning charm in place to prevent Umbridge from hearing the necklace fall. The moment it was on the floor Ron summoned the locket, stuffing it into his pocket as he gestured to Harry that he had possession of the Horcrux.

"I should be going, I've got work to do." Harry said, edging away from Umbridge.

"Not so fast." Umbridge stopped Harry as turned to leave. "What about the mess you've made?"

Harry looked at the broken vase that Umbridge was pointing at. Harry got out his wand and repaired the vase, replacing it on the shelf where he had knocked it from. Umbridge glared at Harry for a few seconds before turning on her heel and walking back towards her office, Harry could clearly hear her muttering under her breath as she went.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Harry said, the moment Umbridge had disappeared.

Harry and Ron walked as quickly as they could towards the elevators, people were beginning to come back from lunch and they were starting to get worried about the polyjuice potion wearing off and revealing their true identities.

Once in the golden elevators that ran the length of the Ministry, Harry and Ron tucked themselves at the back so they hopefully wouldn't be spotted. By the time they were two floors away from the atrium they were once again alone in the lift. On the first floor the lift suddenly stopped, but the doors refused to open.

"What's happening?" Ron questioned.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Harry said. He could feel the effects of the polyjuice potion wearing off and knew within minutes he would be his normal self.

"Look there's a button marked assistance." Ron said, examining the buttons in the lift. "Should I press it?" He asked.

"Yes." Harry said. Ron pressed the button and the two waited for a response.

"There is a breach in security, all elevators are currently in lockdown." A mechanical voice filtered through the lift. Neither Harry or Ron were sure if the voice was a result of pressing for assistance or if the announcement would have sounded anyway.

"They must know we're here." Ron exclaimed. "Umbridge must have alerted someone to our presence."

"It can't be, it's too quick." Harry said, shaking his head. "Even if Umbridge knows the locket's missing she would have no reason to think it's been stolen, for all she knows it's just missing somewhere in her office or even at home."

"Okay so if the lockdown isn't us than what caused it?" Ron asked.

Harry was silent for a minute, a horrifying thought occurring to him. "What if it's Voldemort's take over, we know that it's coming."

"Typical!" Ron moaned. "Only we could break into the Ministry on the same day he launches a takeover."

"If that is what's happening, we need to get out of here." Harry said. "In case you failed to realise it, the polyjuice potion had worn off."

"Yes, I had noticed Harry." Ron said. "It's hard to miss your best friend standing in front of you dressed as a woman."

Harry cursed at Ron before transfiguring his clothes back to normal, Ron did the same with his clothes. Once they were finished getting themselves back to normal Harry looked around the elevator for a way out, his eyes immediately searched for a trapdoor that always seemed to be present in muggle films he watched whenever people were trapped in lifts. Harry started his search on the roof but before long his eyes fell on the faint outline of a square in the top right hand corner of the wall.

"What's that?" Harry asked Ron, pointing at the square. Harry was hoping he would know considering his father and brother worked at the Ministry, and Harry knew for a fact that Ron had accompanied Arthur to work numerous times when he was younger.

"It leads into the ventilation shaft. Magical lifts aren't supposed to get stuck but if they do the lift automatically aligns itself with a ventilation shaft so the people in the lift can breathe until the lift is working again." Ron explained to Harry. He only knew about the ventilation shaft because of the fact his father had once been stuck in a Ministry life for several hours when Ron was younger, when one of the twins had asked how he was still alive Arthur had explained about the ventilation shaft.

"That's how we escape." Harry said. "We have to get out of the Ministry as quickly as possible."

"How are we going to get up there?" Ron asked.

"You're going to give me a boost." Harry said. "Come here."

Grumbling slightly Ron headed over to Harry so they could work out the easiest way to get Harry up to the shaft opening. After several failed attempts to boost Harry up the two boys cast a weightless charm on Harry so Ron could hold him easier. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was less than five minutes, Harry sat atop Ron's shoulders as he worked on opening the ventilation shaft. When he finally got it open Harry looked into the dark tunnel, extremely relived that his childhood had left him immune to dark confined spaces, he would hate to be entering the vent if he was claustrophobic.

"I've opened it, now I've got to get inside." Harry said.

Ron pushed Harry up as much as he could, until Harry had a firm grip on the opening. With Ron's help Harry managed to scramble into the shaft before he turned around to lean back out. It wasn't until Harry reached back to help Ron up that they realised that they hadn't figured out how to get Ron into the shaft, there was no way he could reach Harry so his friend could help pull him up.

"Hold on, Ron." Harry said, getting his wand and pointing it at his friend. "Wingardium Leviosa." He chanted, causing Ron to lift off the ground shakily.

Harry ignored Ron's pretty girly screams as he tried to manoeuvre his friend close enough to the shaft so he could climb inside and they could escape. With a great deal of effort Harry finally got Ron close enough so that he could grab onto the edge of the shaft. Putting his wand away Harry helped Ron climb inside the shaft where both boys collapsed in a heap, exhausted from their efforts.

"We need to get going." Harry said after a few minutes.

Ron nodded in agreement and the two boys began crawling through the ventilation shaft, looking for a way out. They had been crawling for nearly five minutes when Harry stopped suddenly, causing Ron to nearly crash into him.

"Why did you stop?" Ron hissed, he was trying to keep quiet as he wasn't sure if the people on the floor below could hear them.

"There's a clear grate up ahead." Harry said. "It looks like it opens up."

"What are you waiting for?" Ron questioned. "Let's get going, it's our way out."

"I know, but we have to approach it quietly, there might be people under it."

Ron cursed silently, it hadn't occurred to him that they might not be able to escape from the ventilation shaft at the first opportunity.

When Harry began crawling forward again Ron hung back, letting Harry check the coast was clear. After taking a look down below Harry turned back to Ron and gestured for him to join him. Once Ron was at the grate both boys began on opening it, trying to be as quiet as they could. Once it was open Harry cast a cushioning charm on the floor before dropping out of the shaft, Ron following close behind him.

Harry and Ron barely had time to register the room they had arrived in as they became aware of screaming and shouting on the other side of the door. Sharing a look Harry and Ron decided they were right, Voldemort was in the middle of taking over the Ministry. After a brief discussion Harry and Ron decided the best way to escape was to cast disillusionment charms on themselves and try to make their way to either the apparition point or a fireplace. As they cast the charms Harry was annoyed with himself for not bringing his invisibility cloak, it was definitely something he would remember to bring on his future ventures.

Harry grabbed onto Ron's wrist, so they wouldn't be separated, before leading the way out of the room. As soon as they entered the corridor Harry and Ron were confronted with Death Eaters doing battle with people who worked in the Ministry. Harry desperately wanted to help but knew that he and Ron needed to make it to safety, they had too much to do before Harry was ready to face Voldemort.

Moving far slower than either of them would prefer Harry and Ron headed for the stairs leading down to the atrium. The stairs were relatively deserted so Harry and Ron practically flew down to the atrium. Keeping to the side of the atrium Harry and Ron were nearly at the apparition point when Harry suddenly felt pain shatter through his head. Clutching at his head Harry came to an abrupt stop, causing Ron to nearly trip over him.

"What are you doing? We're nearly there." Ron whispered, hoping no one was close enough to hear them.

"He's here." Harry whispered, just as silence descended in the atrium.

Harry and Ron turned to find the figure of Voldemort strolling through the atrium, Lucius Malfoy at his side. Stopping in front of the statue that sat in the centre of the atrium Voldemort raised his wand and blasted it to smithereens.

"That is what will happen to anyone who wants to oppose me." Voldemort announced, making sure everyone's attention was on him. "I'd like to announce the appointment of a new Minister of Magic, Lucius Malfoy."

Harry and Ron gasped as Lucius smirked at the shocked Ministry workers. The Order had been under the impression the Malfoy family was out of favour with Voldemort, clearly there recent information had been wrong as Lucius looked very much in favour with the dark wizard at his side.

"I think it's time people got back to work." Voldemort announced. "There's a lot to do this afternoon."

At Voldemort's announcement his Death Eaters began rounding up Ministry employees and dragging them towards the stairs as Voldemort and Lucius strolled through the atrium, enjoying the show.

Taking advantage of the distraction Ron pulled a stunned Harry towards the apparition point. Harry quickly realised they needed to escape the Ministry so both boys ended up practically running to the apparition point. Making sure no-one had spotted them Harry and Ron apparated back to Grimmauld Place, both were eager to get to the Burrow and find out what the Order knew about the day's events.

Once back at Grimmauld Place Harry and Ron hid the Horcrux, they still had no idea how to destroy it. After getting changed the boys headed to The Burrow, they knew they would have to appear shocked when they heard the news about the Ministry but neither thought it would be a problem since they were actually still stunned by what they had witnessed.


	10. Chapter 10

Draco stood by the bedroom window, looking out at the large garden below. He had been hiding out in his room all day as he plucked up the courage to speak with Granger. After being stuck in the house for a little over three weeks Draco knew the time was coming when he had to make a decision, he could either speak to Granger about trying to escape or accept that once the first part of his task was over he would be dead. The brief conversation he and Granger had indulged in the previous night gave Draco hope that she would at least give him a chance.

Deciding to speak with Granger before he chickened out again Draco left his room and knocked on the door next to his. Draco wasn't even sure if Granger was in her room, he had heard her moving about throughout the day but wasn't sure if she was currently upstairs or down. Getting no answer Draco took a chance at pushing open the door slightly and peeking round the edge. Finding an empty room Draco shut the door and headed downstairs to find the witch he was currently cohabiting with.

Draco wasn't the slightest bit surprised to find Granger sitting in the library, surrounded by books. He wasn't an idiot and had known right from the beginning of their entrapment that Granger was researching the wards, hopefully looking for a way to escape. However Draco wasn't sure how Granger had planned to escape without him knowing about it, it was something he would have to ask her about.

Draco stood watching the witch for several minutes before entering the room fully. "Granger, we need to talk." He announced, sitting down at the table where she was sitting.

Hermione had been so busy studying the books in front of her she hadn't noticed the blond until he spoke to her. Hastily she shut the book she was reading and looked across the table, finding a nervous looking Malfoy sitting opposite her.

"What about?" She asked cautiously.

"Escaping." Draco replied, smirking slightly at Granger's shocked expression. "We both need to get out of here and the only realistic way to achieve it is to work together."

"What makes you think I need to escape?" Hermione asked. She was pleased that Malfoy had been the one to approach her about escaping but she wanted to make sure he was genuine before agreeing to work with him. "I could just wait around until my friends rescue me."

"Since when does Hermione Granger sit around and wait for her idiot friends to save her." Draco snorted. "The girl I know is perfectly capable of saving herself."

"That almost sounds like a compliment Malfoy." Hermione said.

"Almost." Draco agreed. "Anyway the point is it's too dangerous to wait around and hope your friends find you. Do you know what The Dark Lord plans on doing to you?"

"No, do you?" Hermione asked.

Draco nodded. "Yes, I'm not sure when but apparently when he feels the time is right you're going to be killed."

Hermione paled at the revelation, she always knew it was likely that her death was part of Voldemort's plan but hearing it confirmed was rather disturbing. "How do you know this?" She asked quietly, still digesting the news.

Draco was quiet for a moment as he wondered how much to tell the witch sitting opposite him. "Because guarding you is only half my task. When the time comes he expects me to be the one to kill you."

Hermione stared at Draco in shock, amazed that he had admitted so much to her. Hermione wanted to ask him if he was going to follow Voldemort's orders but the words wouldn't come, despite her trying to speak at least three times.

"Just so you know, I can't do it." Draco said, sensing Hermione's unspoken question. "I know what you think of me, but I'm not a killer."

"I know you're not." Hermione said softly. "Despite everything I don't think you're a bad person, Malfoy. I'm not sure you know exactly who you are yourself but I think if given the opportunity you could be a pretty good person."

"That almost sounds like a compliment Granger." Draco said, mimicking Hermione's earlier comment. He was actually quite surprised by Hermione's words and had no idea how to react to her believing in him.

"Almost." Hermione smiled.

"So do you think we can work together?" Draco asked, bringing the conversation back to the original topic.

"Yes, but I have a few conditions." Hermione said hesitantly.

"That's fine, I have a few of my own." Draco shrugged. "You go first."

"Number one, we have to be honest with each other. We're never going to get anywhere if one of us is keeping secrets."

Draco nodded. "Fine. Anything you want to know just ask, although I warn you now I won't talk about anything personal."

"Okay." Hermione was slightly disappointed by Draco's refusal to speak about anything personal as she had hoped to get to know the blond Slytherin better, he was proving there was more to him than she had thought and Hermione was slowly becoming more interested in finding out who the real Draco Malfoy was.

"Any more conditions?" Draco prompted Hermione as she seemed to get totally distracted.

"Yes." Hermione nodded. "I know that we're going to argue and it's probably only going to get worse once we're out of here but we have to try and get along better. When we do argue we have to avoid hexing each other."

"That's fine, but I hardly think we need to worry about hexing each other."

"Really, and why's that?" Hermione asked.

"You don't have a wand at the minute." Draco said, wondering if Hermione had forgotten that small point.

"Oh." Hermione looked slightly sheepish as Draco pointed out her lack of wand. Over the last few weeks she had gotten used to being without her wand and had forgotten that she wouldn't automatically get it back when they escaped.

"Maybe it's something we can try and fix before we escape." Draco suggested. He knew that ideally it would be much better for their escape that Hermione had a wand so that she could use magic if necessary.

"Maybe." Hermione said quietly. The fact that she had no wand and was essentially useless in regards to her magic was casting a shadow over Hermione and she couldn't help but dwell on how impotent she would be in the upcoming escape.

"Do you have any more conditions, before I start on mine?" Draco asked, trying to get Hermione to refocus on the task at hand rather than dwell on her lack of wand.

Yes, I have one final one." Hermione said, vowing to concentrate on the conversation and not worry aver something she couldn't change. "When we do escape, obviously we'll be going to the Order. You have to promise not to deliberately wind people up, especially Harry and Ron."

"Actually that condition works perfectly with one of mine." Draco said. "I'm perfectly prepared to be civil and not cause trouble but you have to promise I won't be treated too badly. I know I'm a Death Eater and have done bad things but I just want a chance to prove that there's more to me than that."

"Don't worry, I'll be making it perfectly clear that you're on our side and deserve to be treated with respect." Hermione reassured Draco. "After all there's no way I can actually escape from here without your help, that should help people when it comes to trusting you."

"Thanks." Draco said quickly, he didn't like having to ask Hermione to make sure he wasn't treated too badly but he knew it would be easier for him to behave if other people didn't wind him up. "My other condition also involves Potter and Weasley. I don't want them knowing about my nightmares. I know they're bound to ask you about what's been happening but I'd rather you didn't mention them."

"I wouldn't do that. That's your private business and has nothing to do with me or my friends." Hermione said. "Although there's a good chance they'll find out if you're still having them when we escape."

"Damn, I hadn't thought of that." Draco muttered. It was bad enough that Granger knew about his nightmares but the last thing he wanted was for Potter and Weasley to find out about them.

"Have you tried using a sleeping draught?" Hermione asked, thinking of some way that Malfoy's dreams could be stopped before they escape.

"I'm allergic to one of the ingredients." Draco shook his head, wishing his nightmares could be solved by a simple sleeping draught.

"Which one?" Hermione asked. "Maybe we could find one without that particular ingredient."

"I'm not sure which one. The problem first became apparent when I was little and the healers tried various versions of sleeping draughts and found I was allergic to them all. All the various sleeping draughts use the same three core ingredients so they figured I was allergic to one of them. They could have tested to find out which one but there didn't seem much point as it's impossible to make a sleeping draught without all the core ingredients." Draco said, surprising himself by how much he had told Hermione without even thinking.

"I wonder if we could make one using different ingredients." Hermione mused.

"Don't bother, Granger. Severus has been trying to find a solution for the last year and if he can't make a sleeping draught that I can take no-one can." Draco said.

"Maybe we can look into muggle ways of trying to stop your nightmares." Hermione suggested. For some unknown reason she found herself really wanting to help Malfoy with his nightmares.

"There's not exactly an abundance of muggle literature in the library, Granger." Draco said. "So unless you know about muggle techniques to get rid of nightmares then I think I'll just have to cope."

Hermione sighed, knowing Malfoy was right. Her experience with getting rid of nightmares came down to her experiences when she was younger and the advice her father had given her.

"I don't think I know enough." Hermione admitted. "There were two ways my dad helped me get rid of my nightmares when I was younger, but I don't think either of them will appeal to you."

"We'll never know unless we try." Draco sighed, settling into his seat and propping his feet up on the table. "Come on Granger, let's hear your words of wisdom."

Hermione glared at Draco before speaking. "My dad always said the best way of getting rid of nightmares was to talk about them. So when I had nightmares my dad used to make me talk about them, I more I spoke about them the less scary they seemed and the less I had them."

"We established last night I don't wish to discuss my dreams." Draco said stonily, he had visibly stiffened at the idea of discussing what haunted his nights. "So what was his next bright idea?"

"When talking didn't work or I refused to talk about my nightmares I used to sleep in my parents bed. Dad used to say that having someone else with you kept the nightmares away."

"Now that just sounds like a handy excuse to get into my bed, Granger." Draco smirked at Hermione who was obviously embarrassed by her second suggestion.

"I didn't say I was offering my services, Malfoy." Hermione glared at the smirking blond. "I would rather get disturbed every night than sleep next to you."

"Good, I wouldn't want you getting any ideas." Draco said, swinging his feet off the table and standing up.

"Wait, where are you going?" Hermione called as Draco began heading towards the door.

"I'm going to get something to eat, Granger." Draco called back over his shoulder as he continued out of the room. "I'm starving."

"Well if you didn't hide away all day, you would have had your breakfast and lunch." Hermione retorted, standing up and following Draco into the kitchen.

Hermione stood in the doorway watching as Draco made himself something to eat and drink. Draco wordlessly handed Hermione a cup of coffee and she sat down at the table while Draco finished his meal. Once he was finished eating Draco magically cleaned his dishes before turning back to the witch sitting opposite him, he knew she wanted to talk some more after following him from the library.

"Why are you so eager to escape?" Hermione asked. "I know you're not a Death Eater by choice but why try and abandon Voldemort now?"

"If I don't leave now, I'll be killed." Draco admitted. "The Dark Lord made it clear that this task is my last chance with him. When I fail, I'll be killed."

"What if you don't fail?"

"We've been over this, Granger. I'm not a killer." Draco sighed. "I will not be able to kill you when he tells me to. We need to get out of here before that day comes, otherwise we're both dead."

"What about your mother? Won't she be in danger if you run away?" Hermione hoped she wasn't pushing her luck by inquiring about Narcissa but she wanted to be sure that Malfoy wouldn't back out of their deal over concerns about his mother's safety.

"Yes, she'll be in danger but before I left home she made me promise that if I got the chance to escape to take it. She doesn't want this life any more than I do." Once again Draco was surprised by how easy it was to admit his private business to Hermione. "Hopefully Severus can protect her from The Dark Lord's wrath."

Hermione let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, at least now she didn't have to worry about Malfoy backing out of their deal.

"I have one more condition." Hermione said. Malfoy's speech had reminded her of something she had meant to mention earlier.

"You can't just keep adding conditions, Granger." Draco protested.

"I know but this one's important." Hermione said.

"Fine." Draco sighed. "What is it?"

"You have to stop calling Voldemort, The Dark Lord. I know that's what you're used to calling him but it won't help you settle in with the Order if you go around referring to him in that way."

"I'll try, but I can't promise it won't occasionally slip out." Draco winced slightly at the thought of calling The Dark Lord, Voldemort. No-one he knew dared called him anything other than The Dark Lord and he knew it would take a bit of getting used to.

Hermione smiled at the worried looking blond. "It'll get easier. Most of the Order still can't call him Voldemort, most just circle around his name vaguely. I think Harry and I are about the only two who can say his name without a problem."

"Maybe that's because you and Potter didn't grow up knowing all about him." Draco said.

"Probably." Hermione nodded. She knew that despite the awful things Voldemort had done she and Harry weren't as affected by his name as they hadn't been brought up to fear it.

"Do you want to go back to the library?" Draco asked, eager to drop the subject of Voldemort. "We can discuss our plans and what information we have about the wards."

"Sure, although discussing what we know won't take long unless you know a lot, I've found very little useful information." Hermione said, standing up.

Draco sighed and stood up to follow Hermione into the library. He hadn't actually made much progress with the wards and had been hoping Granger knew more than him. Obviously if they wanted to escape they would need to do a lot more research, although hopefully things would progress better with the two of them working together.


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione shut the book she was reading in disappointment. Sighing she laid her head on the table she was sitting at as she contemplated their lack of progress. It had been just over a week since Malfoy had approached her about escaping but despite hours of research by the pair of them they were no nearer to figuring out the wards that held them prisoner. From what they could tell Voldemort had used features of several different types of wards, and as far as they could tell he had even added a few extra measures of his own. As a result of the complicated wards the two had no idea of how they were actually going to escape.

Wondering if Malfoy was having better luck with his research Hermione turned to where the blond boy was lying on the sofa. The question she was about to ask died on her lips as she noticed the Slytherin had fallen asleep. The book he had been reading was lying abandoned over his chest. Looking at the sleeping blond Hermione couldn't help but notice how peaceful and innocent he looked.

Turning back to the pile of books on the table Hermione made a conscious effort to be as quiet as possible so she didn't disturb the sleeping blond boy. Since making their agreement of working together to escape, Hermione had noticed that Malfoy's nightmares were getting stronger. Most nights he now woke her up at least twice a night, sometimes three on a bad night. Hermione had tried again to get him to talk about his dreams but as usual the blond refused to even contemplate discussing what was disturbing him.

For the next hour Hermione quietly continued her research, occasionally making notes of things she thought might be useful to know. As she began to get hungry, Hermione left her research and was about to head into the kitchen to make a late afternoon snack. She debated waking Malfoy but eventually decided to let him rest as she tiptoed quietly past his sleeping form.

Hermione had just reached the doorway when a quiet thud sounded from behind her. Turning round Hermione spotted the book that had been resting on Malfoy's chest was now lying on the floor. As Hermione walked over to pick up the book she noticed the peaceful look on Malfoy's sleeping face had disappeared, now he looked disturbed by something. Hermione immediately began to worry that Malfoy was slipping into one of his nightmares. Hermione's concerns were almost immediately recognised as the blond suddenly moaned as though he was in pain as his body twitched.

Not wanting Malfoy's dreams to become a full blown nightmare Hermione cautiously reached out and shook the blond's shoulder as she softly called his name. It took a couple of minutes before she managed to wake the blond, his eyes suddenly springing open as he sat up abruptly.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, quickly removing her hand from his shoulder.

"I'm fine." Draco said. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep. When you started to make noises I woke you so you didn't have a nightmare." Hermione explained, wondering if she had done the right thing in waking the Slytherin.

"Thanks." Draco muttered, swinging his legs off the sofa and running his hands through his dishevelled hair.

"I'm going to make a sandwich, do you want one?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "I'll be there in a minute."

Hermione took the hint, leaving Draco alone as she headed for the kitchen. By the time Hermione had made the sandwiches Draco had joined her in the kitchen, looking a lot more put together than he had moments earlier after his abrupt awakening. Knowing the blond wouldn't want to discuss what had just happened Hermione placed the two plates onto the table and immediately began talking about her lack of progress with the wards.

* * *

Draco rubbed his temple, trying desperately to block out the sound of Granger's constant nattering. He didn't regret joining forces with her and most of the time he actually enjoyed spending time with the feisty brunette, she could hold an intelligent conversation which put her one up on his Slytherin friends. Occasionally though the witch would get started on a tangent and she would talk non-stop, like she was currently doing.

Granger was currently working on theories for breaking through the wards, although Draco wasn't sure why she needed to keep up a constant flow of speech as she worked on her ideas. Draco had had a headache since he had woken up an hour or so earlier and he was rapidly reaching breaking point with the chattering witch sitting next to him.

"Granger, do you have to keep talking incessantly?" Draco asked, trying to remain calm and not snap at the brunette.

"Sorry." Hermione apologised. She often found it easier to think out loud and sometimes she forgot how annoying it could be to other people.

In an attempt not to annoy the wizard beside her any longer Hermione decided to return the book she was looking at and start work on another volume. As Hermione wandered over to one of the tall bookshelves Draco breathed a sigh of relief as silence reined in the library.

Ten minutes later silence was shattered as Hermione squealed excitedly and immediately began rambling on about a new theory. Draco groaned audibly as Hermione began reading passages of the book she was holding out loud.

"For Merlin's sake Granger, think quietly." Draco muttered.

Much to his dismay Hermione paid no attention to him as she continued to chatter on. Despite his protests she was too caught up in a possible way to escape to pay any attention to the sulking blond. Getting annoyed Draco abruptly stood up and stalked over to where Hermione was standing reading out loud.

"Will you please shut up." Draco growled, grabbing the book out of Hermione's hands.

"No, this is important." Hermione protested, reaching for the book that was now in Draco's possession.

As she managed to grab the book back off Draco, Hermione once again began to talk about her new discovery. Draco glared at the chattering witch, annoyed that she wouldn't be quiet. Desperate to get the Gryffindor to be quiet Draco unthinkingly leant forward and pressed his lips over hers. Suddenly realising what he had done Draco froze, until Hermione began to tentatively kiss him back.

Cautiously the couple began to let themselves get immersed in the kiss. As Draco's lips moved softly over Hermione's the witch dropped the book she was holding, her arms moving to wrap around the blond Slytherins neck. Taking his cue from Hermione, Draco wrapped his arms around the brunette's waist and pulled her closer to his body. Hermione moaned slightly at the contact and Draco used the opportunity to deepen the kiss, sliding his tongue into the warm cavern of Hermione's mouth.

Hermione moaned louder as Draco's tongue brushed against her own. Draco backed Hermione into the nearby shelf as their kiss gradually became more heated. Pressed between the hard shelf behind her and the firm body of Draco in front of her, Hermione continued to moan and whimper softly as Draco continued to kiss her in a way that was making her insides flutter. Hermione's moans and whimpers were having an effect on Draco, causing him to harden in arousal.

Eventually needing air the couple reluctantly broke their kiss, moving away from each other only slightly. Both breathing heavily after their encounter, grey eyes met brown in a mixture of lust and confusion. Silently Draco and Hermione removed their arms from round one another, Draco stepping further back to increase the distance between them. Both were totally confused by what had just happened and neither knew how to address the awkwardness that had settled between them.

"I should continue the research." Hermione found her voice first, reaching down for the dropped book as she avoided making direct eye contact with the boy she had just kissed.

"I think I'm going for a shower then having an early night." Draco said, edging his way towards the door. "Night Granger."

"Night Malfoy." Hermione said quietly as Draco left the room and rushed upstairs.

* * *

Draco sat on his bed contemplating what he had done in the library. While he hadn't intended to kiss Granger there was no denying that he had enjoyed it and given half a chance he would definitely be up for a repeat performance. One kiss with the Gryffindor was more stimulating and had affected him more than anything he had done with Pansy Parkinson, and over the last couple of years he had done quite a bit with the Slytherin witch. Draco was puzzled by the intense effect Granger had on him and he began wondering if he had always been attracted to her and just wasn't prepared to admit it to himself.

Thinking about all his encounters with Granger over the years Draco finally decided that he hadn't been harbouring any secret feelings for her. The only time he could remember feeling any sort of romantic inclinations towards her was the Yule Ball in fourth year. There was no denying that Granger had looked quite stunning that night, but even then after an appreciative look at the witch Draco couldn't remember her figuring on his radar for the rest of the night. Apart from that few minutes at the Yule Ball Draco couldn't remember having any attraction to the brunette witch, so he was surprised that one kiss could light such a fire in him.

As Draco sat replaying the kiss in his head he began to wonder what would happen if his father ever found out what he had done. All his life Lucius had drummed it into Draco that muggleborns were worthless scum and nothing but a blight on the wizarding world. Draco was under no illusions regarding his father's reaction, if he ever found out how close Draco was getting to Granger he would be in for the beating of his life. Luckily for Draco he wasn't planning on ever letting his father get close enough to him to strike him. He already knew that once he escaped with Granger his father would disown him and after the years of suffering the man had caused, Draco couldn't be happier at the prospect of having nothing more to do with Lucius.

Over the years Draco had come to realise that his father was a bully who liked to feel superior by belittling people. Draco first started questioning what Lucius had always told him when he started Hogwarts, it was after all incredibly hard to ignore the brightest person in their year was a muggleborn. At that point in his life Draco had still worshipped his father so any time he had doubts about what he had been taught he buried them and made sure to throw a few extra insult's at muggleborns, making sure most of them headed in Granger's direction. For a few years burying his doubts had worked fine for Draco, eventually though the doubts were getting harder to supress and as a result his insults towards Granger and other muggleborns decreased. For the last year and a bit Draco had stopped burying his doubts and he had spent a long time coming to terms with the fact that maybe he didn't really believe the nonsense Lucius had always told him regarding muggleborns.

After a few hours thinking about his father, muggleborns and especially his kiss with Granger, Draco got ready for bed. Settling down for the night he began to contemplate the following day. Things had been pretty awkward after the kiss and Draco was worried in case his actions had jeopardised the escape plan. Despite being reluctant to do so Draco knew that he would have to speak to Granger about their encounter, escaping was their priority and they couldn't afford to let any awkwardness between them ruin that.

* * *

Hermione lay in bed, she was wide awake despite it being the early hours of the morning. Hermione was finding it difficult to sleep as every time she closed her eyes she found herself reliving the kiss with Malfoy. Directly after the incident she had buried herself in more research, effectively blocking herself from thinking about it. But now she was alone in the dark it was the only thing on her mind.

Hermione's experience with boys was fairly limited and before Malfoy she had only kissed two other people. A couple of timid kisses with Viktor Krum and an unwanted kiss under the mistletoe with Cormac McLaggen were her other experiences and none of them compared to what she had shared with Malfoy. Even her long running crush on Ron hadn't produced the feelings kissing Malfoy had brought out in her.

As well as thinking about how much she enjoyed the kiss Hermione was also worrying about what would happen next. Over the last week things had been really good between the pair of them and she was worried their kiss would jeopardise their new found understanding. Hermione knew they would have to talk the following day but she had a sneaking suspicion that they would just brush things under the carpet and not really deal with it properly.

Normally Hermione would be opposed to just brushing past any problems but the thought of having a deep and meaningful conversation with Malfoy regarding their kiss terrified her. If they spoke properly about what happened Hermione knew she would have to face up to whatever feelings the kiss had produced. The only problem was she was so confused by what had happened she had no idea what she was feeling. The only thing Hermione was certain of was that if the opportunity presented itself she wouldn't be opposed to repeating the kiss.


	12. Chapter 12

The following morning the atmosphere between Draco and Hermione was tense. Breakfast was eaten in uncomfortable silence as they both wondered how to broach the subject of the kiss they had shared.

Once she had finished eating Hermione wanted to leave the kitchen to avoid the awkwardness. However when Draco magically cleared the table of both their dishes and remained seated she knew they were about to speak about the previous night.

"I guess we need to talk." Hermione said quietly, breaking the silence.

"I guess we do." Draco agreed. "Or we could just avoid speaking about last night." He suggested, although realistically he knew that the matter had to be dealt with.

"Yeah, because that's going so well." Hermione muttered sarcastically. "Things aren't at all awkward between us."

"Okay, I admit we need to clear the air." Draco said. "I have no idea how to do that, though."

"Neither do I." Hermione conceded as the pair lapsed into silence again.

"Do you regret it?" Draco asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Hermione looked at Draco for a long time, trying to decide if she regretted kissing the blond Slytherin. "No." She eventually said quietly, deciding that there was no way she could regret the most amazing kiss of her life.

"Neither do I." Draco admitted, causing Hermione to smile slightly.

"What happens now?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, I guess we wait and see what happens." Draco said. He really didn't know if anything would develop between him and the brunette witch but he was pleased that she hadn't tried to dismiss what had happened between them.

"Okay." Hermione smiled. She was pleased that Malfoy wasn't avoiding dealing with their kiss and that he didn't seem opposed to something else developing between them. Hermione still wasn't sure if she wanted anything else to happen but she was relieved that he wasn't putting pressure on her either to forget the incident or relive it.

"So do you think we can get back to normal now?" Draco asked. "We still have to figure out a way to escape."

"I'm pretty sure we can get back to normal." Hermione replied. Even the brief talk they had just had was already starting to get rid of the tension between them.

"Good. Did you find anything useful last night?" Draco asked, remembering the book Granger had been so excited about.

Hermione blushed slightly at the mention of the book. "No, it turned out to be pretty useless in the end." She admitted sheepishly.

"So all that annoying prattling last night was for nothing." Draco said, smirking slightly. He definitely didn't think Granger's ramblings were for nothing as it was them that led to their kiss.

"I do not prattle." Hermione huffed and stood up. "I'm going back to the library if you're coming."

"I'm coming." Draco replied, getting out of his own seat and following Hermione into the library.

Once in the library Draco and Hermione settled into their normal routine. Both studied different books, although they often exchanged information that might prove useful. Hermione kept a notebook beside her and often jotted down information they discovered, not that any of it was proving useful in escaping. After a long morning's work, where nothing useful was discovered, Hermione and Draco had a break for food.

"Don't forget Aunt Bella will be calling this afternoon." Draco said as they were finishing their lunch.

"Is that today?" Hermione asked. "I'd totally forgotten."

"It's definitely today." Draco replied. He always made sure to keep track of his Aunt's visits as he didn't want her showing up unexpectedly and discovering that he was helping Granger escape.

"We need to tidy the library." Hermione said. "I'll take a couple of books upstairs with me this afternoon."

The visit of Bellatrix would be the second since Draco had approached Hermione, her first visit occurred the day after their agreement. Both Draco and Hermione had decided that Bellatrix couldn't know that they were getting along so when she was due a visit Hermione would spend the afternoon upstairs and Draco would come and get her when the witch wanted to see her. Bellatrix expected to see Hermione every week, although neither she or Draco could understand why.

After lunch Draco and Hermione tidied the library, getting rid of the evidence that they were busy doing research into magical wards. In all her visits so far Bellatrix had never left the front room but neither Hermione or Draco were comfortable with leaving evidence of their impending escape lying around just in case she did decide to wander about. Once the library was tidy Hermione headed to her room with a few books while Draco went into the front room and laid down on the sofa.

* * *

Cursing herself for not being able to concentrate Hermione threw the book she was reading onto the bed in disgust. No matter how hard she tried Hermione couldn't concentrate on the words she was reading, instead all she could think about was her conversation with Malfoy after breakfast.

Hermione had been convinced that they would brush over what happened and try to ignore it. She hadn't expected Malfoy to ask her if she regretted it, or admit he didn't regret it either, and she definitely never expected him to leave the door open for anything else to happen between them.

Hermione was unsure if she wanted anything more to happen between them, she'd already accepted that she wouldn't mind kissing the blond again but she was wary of getting too involved. It wasn't that Hermione didn't like or trust the blond, she had seen enough over the last few weeks to know there was far more to Malfoy than met the eye. Most of what people thought they knew about him was what he wanted them to know, even then Hermione figured most of it was a mask as he was wary of letting people see the real him. Hermione's real hesitance in letting herself get closer to the Slytherin was her friends.

Hermione knew she would have a hard time convincing her friends that Malfoy was on their side in the first place, she was worried that adding some sort of developing relationship to the mix would only confuse matters. Hermione thought that Harry, and especially Ron, would take any sort of romantic involvement with Malfoy badly and she didn't want to hurt her friends. Hermione was pretty sure that if she really wanted to get involved with Malfoy that she could talk Harry round but she couldn't imagine managing to talk Ron round.

Hermione was aware that in the last few months Ron had finally started to take an interest in her as a girl, several times lately she had tried to let him down gently but so far he hadn't gotten the message. Hermione was also aware of the irony of the situation, a few months earlier and she would have been thrilled with the attention but instead Ron waited until she had gotten over her crush on him before he noticed her. Hermione had finally given up on Ron the previous year when he had been all over Lavender Brown, it had annoyed her that Lavender wasn't interested in Ron until he began playing Quidditch and won the match for Gryffindor while she had always been interested in him. She decided it wasn't worth wasting her energy pining over a boy who chose a girl he had barely spoken to over his best friend. It had taken Hermione a while but she had gotten over Ron and now looking at the pair of them objectively she was pleased that nothing had ever happened, they weren't very well suited and would have been a disaster together.

Her mind still busy thinking about her friends and Malfoy, Hermione wandered around the small room. Reaching the window Hermione sat down on the chair, looking out at the large garden splayed below her. When the wards suddenly flickered and dropped Hermione sat up straight, gazing at the open countryside that seemed to surround the house. The wards were down a good minute or so and by the time they were erected around the house again an idea was beginning to form in Hermione's mind. The only other time Hermione had seen the wards down was on Bellatrix's visit and she had been distracted at the time so it hadn't really registered in her mind that one day every week the wards were down momentarily. She was positive that she had found the way to escape, all that was needed now was a solid plan to implement at the right time and freedom beckoned.

Hermione was still mulling over her discovery when she heard Malfoy coming up the stairs to get her. Before he had time to knock she bounded over to the door and opened it, she was eager to get Bellatrix's visit over with so she could reveal her idea. Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her eagerness but didn't say anything as he nodded at her and led the way downstairs.

Hermione supressed her excitement as she followed Malfoy down the stairs, by the time she reached the doorway of the front room her excitement had definitely disappeared as she prepared to face Malfoy's mad aunt. As usual Hermione only entered the front room far enough so that Bellatrix could see her. Bellatrix also did her usual routine, making sure to get a good, long look at Hermione before turning back to her nephew. After a few parting words Bellatrix disappeared leaving Hermione and Draco alone once again.

"Do you want to tell me what you were so happy about upstairs?" Draco asked, flopping down onto the sofa. His aunt's visits were always tension filled and usually left him feeling exhausted.

"I know how we're going to escape." Hermione said, sitting down next to Draco on the large sofa.

"Did you finally find something helpful in the books?" Draco asked, suddenly feeling more alert.

"No, the books are pretty useless." Hermione said, wincing slightly as she dismissed the books as useless. "It was actually Bellatrix's visit that gave me the answer to our problem."

"How?" Draco inquired, not understanding how his aunt's visit had made a difference.

"When she arrived the wards came down so she could gain entry to the house. I was taken slightly by surprise when it happened but I reckon they were down for a minute or so." Hermione explained.

"So our window of opportunity to escape is roughly one minute?" Draco asked.

"Possibly. Next week we need to figure out the time between her arriving at the house and when she re-erects the wards." Hermione said. "The very first time she visited I saw the wards drop, but I could have sworn that they only dropped for a few seconds. Today I got a good look at the outside as they were down longer."

"She's getting cocky." Draco said with a smirk. "She's clearly taking longer to erect the wards as she doesn't see us as a threat."

"That will be her downfall." Hermione said, excited that she could finally see an end to her imprisonment.

"How are we going to escape though?" Draco asked, wondering if Hermione had any ideas of how to capitalise on her realisation.

"I'm not sure yet, we need to work on some plans." Hermione said. She hadn't had time to work out any details, she just knew that they had discovered a gap in security that she fully intended taking advantage of. "We could try positioning ourselves at the boundary when she'd due to arrive, then when the wards drop we escape."

"No, that's too risky." Draco shook his head, immediately finding multiple problems with that suggestion. "It'll only take Bella a few seconds to know we've gone. We really need a good head start as until we leave the house we have no idea if we can just apparate away or if we'll have to run the muggle way."

"Surely we'll be able to apparate, Bellatrix can apparate in every week." Hermione was confused by Malfoy's idea that they might not be able to apparate.

"That doesn't mean a thing. Just because aunt Bella can apparate into the property doesn't mean The Da… Vold… you know who, doesn't have extra protection around the property."

As he finished speaking Draco shook his head at his stumble over his words, it was proving hard to stop referring to Voldemort as The Dark Lord but it was proving harder to actually say his name, something he hadn't managed yet. Hermione smiled at Malfoy's effort to say Voldemort's name, each time he tried to speak the name he came closer to saying it and Hermione was confident that before long he would be able to say it.

"Right so we need a plan for escaping the magical way and escaping the muggle way." Hermione said. "Although I really hope we don't need to run the muggle way, from what I could see out the back everything was open fields and countryside."

"Hopefully it won't come to that." Draco said. "Although first we need to escape the house before we worry about what happens next."

"I'm sure together we can come up with something." Hermione said, smiling at the boy sitting next to her.

"I'm sure we can, Granger." Draco smiled back. "After all we are the two brightest students at Hogwarts."


	13. Chapter 13

_The pain coursed through Draco's body as he was hit with yet another Cruciatius curse. The pain was so intense that he could hear himself whimpering and moaning, luckily he managed to stop himself from crying out too badly. All of a sudden the pain lessened as The Dark Lord lifted the curse. Draco lay on the cold, stone floor as he tried to regain control of his body. The clacking of heels on the floor announced someone approaching and before Draco could move a hand wrapped around several strands of his platinum blond hair and yanked his head up._

"_Now we're going to watch the fun." Bellatrix whispered in her nephew's ear, pulling on Draco's hair until he was sitting upright._

_Despite himself Draco found his eyes drawn towards the double doors. He knew any minute they would open and his mother would be dragged into the room. He would then have to watch her be tortured in front of him while Bellatrix held onto him so he couldn't stop the torment. When the doors began to open Draco shut his eyes and turned his head as much as he could manage with his aunt's tight grip on his hair._

"_Come Draco, It's no fun if your eyes are shut." _

_At the sound of his father's voice Draco's eyes shot open, the fact that Lucius was in the room was a new development. _

"_That's better." Lucius smirked down at his son. He was standing a few metres away from Draco, his dark cloak covering part of the floor beside him. "I've got a surprise for you."_

_Lucius stepped to the side, pulling his cloak with him and revealing a frightened female. Draco gasped at the sight, instead of seeing the blonde hair and blue eyes of his mother he found himself looking at the brunette curls and deep brown eyes of Hermione Granger. _

"_The mudblood's going to suffer now." Bella cackled in Draco's ear._

"_No." Draco cried, struggling against his aunt's iron grip. "She hasn't done anything."_

"_I'll be the judge of that." Lucius sneered, stepping up to Hermione and raising his wand. "Crucio!"_

"_No." Draco's anguished cry was accompanied by a scream of agony from the girl on the floor._

"_This is all mudblood's are worth. You need to remember this, Draco." Lucius told his son as he shot another spell at Hermione._

"_Please stop." Draco cried, feeling ill as he watched Hermione writhe in pain. "She hasn't done anything, it's me you want to hurt."_

_Bellatrix and Lucius cackled in union as Lucius shot yet another curse at the writhing Gryffindor. Hermione's screams of terror resounded in Draco as he struggled to get to her, although all he managed to do was to hurt himself further as his aunt's grip on him strengthened. _

"_Are you enjoying yourself Draco?" Bellatrix asked with a nasty laugh. "This is all your fault you know. Getting involved with a mudblood, you're a disgrace to the family."_

_Draco ignored his aunt's taunts as he continued to beg his father to stop. Lucius however was ignoring his son as he shot curse after curse at Hermione. The more Hermione screamed in pain the more Draco shouted and begged his father to stop. _

"_Malfoy." Draco briefly stopped his begging as Hermione called his name. _

_As he stared in Hermione's pain filled brown eyes that were begging for help Draco felt his own eyes fill with tears. He was desperate to help the witch, watching her getting tortured was one of the worst things he had experienced and he just wanted to end the torment for both of them._

"_Malfoy." Draco stared in confusion as he heard Hermione call his name again. He was already looking at the witch and she didn't have the energy to even whisper his name let alone speak it in such a steady voice._

"Malfoy."

Draco's grey eyes shot open and he found himself looking at Hermione. Only instead of her brown eyes being filled with pain they were filled with concern. Realising he must have been dreaming Draco slowly sat up in bed, most of the sheets were on the floor and the few that remained on the bed were tangled around his legs.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked. She was perched gingerly on the side of the bed and looked as though she would bolt any minute.

"Not really." Draco admitted. Over the last couple of weeks he had found it surprisingly easy to talk to the brunette witch and had revealed more about himself than he'd ever intended. "I must have been really loud if you felt the need to wake me."

"You were." Hermione said quietly. She'd been really worried when she'd heard the screaming coming from the blond, it was far worse than anything she had heard previously. "I didn't mean to come in, but I couldn't just leave you. You sounded really bad."

"Thank you." Draco said. "Tonight's dream was bad."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked hesitantly. "I know you dismissed talking before, but the dreams are getting worse. Talking might help."

Draco looked at Hermione, he knew that he would never tell her that she had featured in his dream or how much it had hurt him to witness her in pain. He did however think it might be time to talk about his regular dreams, it might even help him.

"Okay. But I need to use the bathroom first, I'll be back in a few minutes." Draco untangled himself from the sheets and headed for the bathroom.

When he returned a few minutes later Hermione had remade the bed, although she was still sitting perched on the edge of the mattress as though he was going to yell at her for being there. Draco climbed into bed and pulled the covers back beside him, gesturing for Hermione to join him.

"Get in, Granger. I won't bite." Draco teased as the witch looked hesitantly at the bed. "Seriously, if we're going to talk you can't stay perched on the edge of the bed. At least get under the covers to keep warm."

"Okay, thanks." Hermione muttered as she climbed into bed next to the Slytherin. The pyjama's she was wearing were quite thin with a tiny strappy top and she was getting quite chilly out in the open.

Once she was settled Hermione turned to look at Malfoy. The teasing of a minute ago had disappeared as the blond stared straight ahead, lost in his own thoughts. Hermione took a minute to study the boy sitting next to her, his grey eyes were filled with pain and his usual pale complexion seemed even paler than normal in the moonlight. Hermione tried not to think about how good Malfoy looked without his top on but her eyes couldn't resist scanning over his bare torso. Hermione's thoughts about Malfoy's body stopped abruptly as she spotted his left arm lying on top of the covers, however it was the black tattoo of a snake and skull that drew her attention. Normally Malfoy was pretty keen to keep his Dark Mark out of sight, even the night they had first spoken properly he had made sure to keep his left arm against his side as much as possible.

Realising she was staring Hermione quickly looked away from Malfoy's arm, only to notice that the blond was now watching her. Hermione winced as she realised that he would undoubtedly have noticed where her attention was focused.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Hermione apologised. She didn't want him to get so uncomfortable that he decided not to talk to her.

"It's fine." Draco said, surprising Hermione with his carefree attitude towards his mark. "I used to stare at it for hours when I first got it. Even now I look at it and wonder if there's anything I could have done to avoid getting it."

"Do you ever come up with anything?" Hermione asked.

"No, the situation was out of my control." Draco replied, staring at the blemish on his arm. "I was being punished for father's failings. He gave me the mark and the task, never expecting me to survive the year."

"You think Voldemort set you up to fail?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

"Yes." Draco nodded. "I don't think he ever expected me to kill Dumbledore. He thought I would either mess up and get caught or kill myself because of the pressure."

"Would you have ever done that?" Hermione asked quietly, wondering if Malfoy had ever considered suicide as a way out of the mess he was in.

"Kill myself?" Draco asked and Hermione nodded once. "Honestly, it never occurred to me. It would destroy my mother if anything happened to me. She's the only person I love, I would never intentionally do anything to cause her that much pain."

Hermione smiled softly as Malfoy spoke about his mother. She'd figured early on in their friendship that his mother was probably the most important person in his life, she was certainly the only person she had ever heard him speak about with genuine affection.

After their brief discussion about Draco's mark, silence once again descended on the room. Hermione didn't want to push the blond into speaking about his dreams but the silence was starting to become uncomfortable. It felt weird enough for Hermione to be in the same bed as Draco but it had been easier to forget where they were when they were talking.

"If you're still not ready to talk about it, we can try another time." Hermione had finally had enough of the silence and felt like she needed to say something.

"I thought you were eager to get me to talk." Draco said, turning his head to face Hermione.

"I'm only trying to help." Hermione said, truthfully she was incredibly curious about Draco's dreams but she didn't want to admit that to him. "I don't want to push you into something you're not comfortable with."

"You're not pushing me into anything." Draco reassured Hermione. "It might help to talk about the dreams, it's just really hard for me."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I don't like talking about my feelings or anything remotely emotional at all actually." Draco admitted, even though he was fairly certain that Hermione already knew that about him. "I only ever confide in people I trust and I don't have many of them in my life. Basically I have my mother, Severus and now you."

"You trust me?" Hermione was shocked by Draco's admission.

"Yes, Granger, I trust you." Draco said quietly. "And you're actually the only person I'd consider telling about my dreams."

"You haven't told your mother or Snape?" Hermione questioned, wondering how long the blond had been dealing with his nightmares alone.

"They know I have bad dreams but neither of them know the details. They know my dreams have something to do with The…" Draco stopped himself and took a deep breath before continuing, he was determined to call Voldemort by his name rather than the title he had bestowed upon himself. "Voldemort. They know my dreams are about Voldemort but they don't know what they entail."

Hermione smiled at Draco's determinedness not to call Voldemort, The Dark Lord. Hopefully by the time they returned to the Order he wouldn't even have to think about what he was saying, it would come naturally to him.

"What do your dreams entail?" Hermione asked. "Are they always the same?"

"Yes, they're always the same." Draco said, deciding not to mention that his most recent dream hadn't been quite the same as his normal nightmares. "They start off more like memories. I'm usually in the front room of the Manor and Voldemort is torturing me."

"Voldemort tortured you?" Hermione interrupted with a gasp. She knew that the dark wizard wasn't above torturing people but she was shocked that he would have done so to Draco.

"Every day since my failure to kill Dumbledore." Draco admitted, looking down as he relived the memories.

"I'm sorry." Hermione whispered, reaching out and gently taking hold of Draco's hand.

Draco looked down at Hermione's hand resting in his, tightening his grip slightly he began to talk about his nightmares again.

"The nightmares always start the same, I'm being tortured. After a while the torture stops and Bellatrix gets hold of me, then they bring in someone else and I have to watch them being tortured."

"Who do they bring in?" Hermione asked. She could tell from Draco's pained expression that watching the torture is the part of the nightmares that have him screaming out loud.

"My mother." Draco whispered.

"Oh god." Hermione gasped. "And they make you watch."

Draco nodded. "I try to get to her to stop them but Bella always has hold of me. I'm completely helpless, all I can do is watch and beg them to stop."

Hermione was horrified by Draco's nightmares, she could only imagine how painful it was to witness the most important person in your life in so much pain. "Is the second part of your dream also memories?" She asked, wondering if the dream was a figment of his imagination or if it had really happened at one point.

"No, I've never had to watch my mother be tortured." Draco whispered. "He's threatened me with it plenty of times but it's never actually happened."

Draco looked so broken that without thinking Hermione shuffled over and wrapped her arms around the blond boy. Draco stiffened for a moment before he leant into her embrace, burying his face in her neck as Hermione held him. Hermione had no idea what to say so she settled for just hugging the Slytherin. The pair of them stayed that way for a while until Draco pulled back slightly so he could see Hermione.

"Thank you for listening." He said as he brought his hand up to cup Hermione's cheek.

"You're welcome. I hoped it helped." Hermione replied in a shaky voice. The atmosphere had suddenly become electric and Hermione was very aware of how close her and Draco were sitting.

"It did." Draco whispered, his eyes never leaving Hermione's.

Simultaneously Hermione and Draco moved their heads until their lips touched. Unlike their previous kiss that had started off timid and gentle, this one was distinctly more passionate from the off. Almost immediately Draco deepened the kiss and within seconds their tongues were dancing furiously around each other's.

Despite the fact that unlike their first kiss their bodies weren't pressed together their second kiss felt a lot more intimate to the couple. The fact that they were sitting in bed wearing very little was on both of their minds as the kiss reluctantly came to an end.

"I should go back to bed." Hermione whispered, still trying to recover her breath after the kiss.

"Don't." Draco said, looking nervous. "I'd rather not be alone, can you stay here?"

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. The thought of staying in Draco's bed was both enticing and worrying for Hermione, she liked the idea of staying where she was comfortable and warm but she was worried that if she stayed that things might get heated between the pair of them and they would do something they might regret later.

Draco nodded in response to Hermione's question. "Although if you would rather go, you can."

"I'm fine here." Hermione said. "But can you close the curtains, I can't sleep with the light coming in from the window."

Draco reached for his wand and closed the curtains, plunging the room into almost blackness. He usually preferred sleeping with the curtains open so the room wasn't completely dark, but if closing them meant Hermione would stay with him he would gladly do so. Draco wasn't exactly sure why he wanted Hermione to stay with him, he wasn't sure if it was a reaction to the dream he had just had or if he just wanted her in his bed.

After replacing his wand on the bedside table Draco settled down into bed. Hermione was already settled down on the opposite side, her back facing him. Draco resisted the urge to pull the brunette witch into his arms as he tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

"Night, Granger." Draco said quietly.

"Night, Malfoy." Hermione whispered back.

For nearly half an hour the pair lay in silence as they tried to get to sleep. The fact that they were lying inches away from each other and had just kissed again was causing sleep to be elusive for both parties. Eventually though tiredness took over and Hermione slipped into unconsciousness, closely followed by Draco.

* * *

**A/N- I would like to thank the people who have left me a review for this story, they are greatly appreciated as it's nice to know some people are enjoying the story. **

**As you may also have noticed the rating has gone back up to M for content in later chapters. **


	14. Chapter 14

As Draco began to wake he absentmindedly wondered why he was so warm, it took him a few minutes to register that the heat was coming from another body pressed close to his. Opening his eyes he was greeted by a mass of curly brunette hair and memories of the previous night came flooding back.

Draco still wasn't sure why he wanted Hermione to stay with him the previous night but he had to admit it was a pleasant feeling to wake up wrapped around the witch. When they had finally gotten to sleep the two of them were on opposite sides of the bed but over the course of the night they had both gravitated towards the centre of the bed and each other. Hermione still had her back to Draco but she was now snuggled against his chest while he had his arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

Fully awake Draco watched the sleeping witch beside him. He was still surprised that she had managed to get him to open up and talk about his dreams. A few weeks ago he was determined to keep quiet about the images that plagued his nights but there was something about Hermione that made him let his guard down. Draco was well aware that over the last few weeks he had told her more about his life than he had ever told anyone, most of the time he didn't even realise he was doing it.

After a few minutes of just watching Hermione sleep Draco brushed her long hair to one side, revealing her neck and shoulder. From the angle he was lying Draco could also make out Hermione's impressive cleavage, instead of staring at her chest however he turned his attention to her face. Slowly Draco raised his hand to her face and ran a finger down her cheek.

At his touch Hermione began to stir slightly. Draco continued to stroke Hermione's face until the brunette witch finally opened her eyes.

"Hey." Draco said softly, pulling his hand back slightly.

Hermione stretched before she flipped over so she was facing the blond Slytherin. "Hi." She whispered, wondering what sort of reaction she would get from Draco.

"Thanks for last night." Draco said. "I appreciated you staying."

"Did it help?" Hermione asked. She hadn't heard any more noise from the blond but wanted to be sure her presence had helped.

"Definitely." Draco said, reaching out and brushing a few stray curls out of Hermione's face.

"I'm glad." Hermione said with a small smile.

Draco smiled back as the two stared at each other for several moments. Slowly they both moved forward until their lips were pressed together. Unlike the passion of the previous night the kiss was gentle and languid. Slowly they explored each other's mouths as their lips moved perfectly in sync with each other. After what seemed like an eternity to the couple they slowly parted.

"I suppose we should get up. It's a big day today." Hermione sighed. She would much rather stay in bed with Draco but Bellatrix was due for her weekly visit and it was time to start making the final preparations for their escape.

"I suppose so." Draco reluctantly agreed. "Although I would much rather stay here."

"So would I." Hermione admitted shyly.

"Do you think there's anything I could do to persuade you to stay for a bit longer?" Draco asked with a wicked grin.

"I'm not sure." Hermione responded. "How persuasive can you be?"

"Very." Draco declared, before capturing Hermione's lips with his.

As the intensity of the kiss grew Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and pressed her body close to his, moaning when she felt his arousal pressed against her stomach.

For the next half hour the couple stayed in bed, indulging in a passionate make out session. Eventually though they had to get up so they could eat before Bellatrix's arrival some time that afternoon.

* * *

Hermione stood tensely in the doorway to the front room, trying not to look intimidated while Bellatrix stared at her. Even though she had been imprisoned for a while now Hermione was still unsure why Bellatrix insisted on seeing her every week just to stare at her.

"You're doing good, Draco." Bellatrix said, suddenly turning away from Hermione to face her nephew. "The Dark Lord is very happy with your work."

"Thank you aunt Bella." Draco replied. He wasn't the slightest bit bothered by the fact Voldemort was happy with him, he just wanted to escape the dark wizard's clutches as soon as possible.

"See you next week." Bellatrix said as she turned on the spot and dissapparated.

"Thank Merlin, that's over." Draco declared, sinking down onto the sofa. "I hate her visits."

"Me too." Hermione said, joining Draco on the sofa. "I hate the way she just stares at me for no reason."

"There'll be a reason, we just don't know it." Draco said.

"That's not important now." Hermione said. "Do you know how much time we've got between her arriving and re-erecting the wards."

"Just under a minute." Draco replied. "It's the first thing she does, but she takes a few seconds to adjust to arriving."

"So we have to be quick in stunning her." Hermione said.

After much deliberation Draco and Hermione had decided the best way to escape would be to stun Bellatrix upon her arrival and try escaping while the wards were still down.

"You have to be quick in stunning her." Draco said.

"How am I going to stun her?" Hermione questioned. They were still finalising the plans but Hermione had assumed that Draco would be the one dealing with his aunt. "I have no wand."

"You can use mine." Draco said with a shrug. Normally he wouldn't give his wand to anyone but he trusted Hermione and knew the plan would work better if she was the one to stun his aunt. "You're always upstairs when she arrives so she never checks to see if you're in the room. All you have to do is hide somewhere and the second she appears, you stun her."

"That's easier said than done." Hermione sighed, nervous that she was the one the whole plan was relying on. "What if I'm not quick enough?"

"We'll practice this week." Draco said. "We know it's possible to apparate around the house so I can apparate into the front room and you can stun me. By next week you'll be perfect."

"You must really trust me if you're willing to let me use your wand and let me stun you." Hermione was actually quite surprised by the high level of trust Draco was putting in her.

"I do." Was Draco's simple response. "What happens after? What happens if we stun Bella and then we can't apparate?" He asked, bringing the conversation back to their escape plan.

"We run." Hermione responded. "If we can't apparate from the house or outside we'll just have to run and keep trying. Eventually we'll either find somewhere where Voldemort hasn't prevented apparition or he'll let down the anti-apparition wards as he searches for us."

"What makes you think he'll let down his wards?" Draco questioned. "We already know both him and Bella can apparate straight into the house, he doesn't need to release the wards."

"That only applies if he's searching for us by himself." Hermione explained. Over the last week she had been thinking a lot about the wards and she had several theories on how they were designed. "Chances are he'll bring a few of his Death Eaters, the more people there is searching the better chance he has of finding us."

"How will that help? Knowing him he'll have some extra ward only allowing Death Eaters to apparate into the area." Draco said. He was actually impressed with Hermione's reasoning but he wanted to be sure they had thought of every outcome and possibility.

"That's where you come in." Hermione said. "If he does that then hopefully your mark will enable us to apparate out of the area."

"What if he bars me specifically from apparating?" Draco questioned, once again trying to make sure they had everything covered. "It's tricky but you can manipulate wards to include certain people."

"I know." Hermione said with a nod of her head. This part of the plan was the only bit where she was taking a slight gamble in what security measures Voldemort had already put in place, it was possible that a ward barring Draco from apparating was already active. "But as you said, it's tricky. It also takes a while to perform the right spells. Hopefully he won't have time to alter the wards before we realise they're down and escape."

"That's still a risk." Draco pointed out.

"I know, but it's one we have to take." Hermione said.

"I guess so." Draco sighed. He didn't like that they had failed to find a way around every possible outcome but he knew they were pretty well prepared in the circumstances.

"Now we need to discuss where we apparate to." Hermione said. "Obviously we can't go straight to the Order or they'll follow our trail, not to mention if you have to do the apparating you won't know where to go."

"So before we can get to safety we have to make sure they lose our trail." Draco said. "The best way is to apparate to several destinations in quick succession, the more crowded the better."

"I was thinking muggle London as a starting point." Hermione said, pleased that Draco was immediately on her wave length. "I don't know my way around London great, but I'm betting my knowledge is better than any Death Eaters."

"It will be, leading them into the muggle world will be highly confusing to most of them." Draco said.

"Good, then once we've lost them we can them go to the Order." Hermione said, pleased their plan was taking shape nicely.

"I need to go and see Severus first." Draco announced. He'd been waiting for the right time to bring up his desire to go and visit his mentor. "I know you're going to argue, but I can't leave without at least trying to make sure my mother is safe."

"I understand that, but it's not a good idea." Hermione said cautiously. She knew that Draco thought a lot of Snape but after everything that had happened the previous year she didn't trust her Potions Professor. "I know he cares about you but we can't risk going to visit a Death Eater."

"He's no more of a Death Eater than I am." Draco protested. "He doesn't support Voldemort."

Normally Hermione would be pleased that Draco had used Voldemort's name without thinking but she was trying to keep her temper in check. "He killed Dumbledore, I call that supporting Voldemort." She snapped as she stood up and walked over to the window.

"He did kill Dumbledore." Draco admitted. "But he doesn't support Voldemort."

"How can you say that after last year?" Hermione turned to face Draco, tears evident in her eyes as they discussed the murder of their headmaster.

"I can say that because I know the full story." Draco said. "There is more to the story than anyone else knows. Severus told me the truth days after Dumbledore's death."

"What truth?" Hermione asked, unsure of whether she believed there was more to events than she knew.

"Sit down and I'll explain." Draco sighed as Hermione sat down in the chair opposite him rather than return to sit next to him.

"I'm waiting." Hermione said, a hint of impatience evident in her tone of voice.

"Severus killed Dumbledore on his request. He was dying and knew of my task, he didn't want me to become a killer so he begged Severus to do what he knew I couldn't." Draco explained.

"Dumbledore was dying?" Hermione gasped. "How?"

"Can you remember his shrivelled hand?" Draco asked and Hermione nodded. "That was the beginning of the curse taking effect. He came into contact with the curse by wearing a ring or something, I'm not totally sure on that part. Anyway, the curse was too strong and the best Severus could do was delay the inevitable, giving Dumbledore a few more months to live."

Hermione sat silently after Draco had finished talking, the moment he mentioned the ring she knew he was telling the truth. Hermione knew from Harry that Dumbledore had destroyed a Horcrux belonging to Voldemort last year, the Horcrux in question had been a ring.

"I know you probably don't believe the story, but I've seen Severus's memories and it's true." Draco said, worrying about Hermione's lack of response. "Severus is loyal to Dumbledore and the Order. He only did what Dumbledore asked him so he could save me."

"I believe you." Hermione said quietly. "If you want to visit him before we go to the Order we can."

"Thank you." Draco breathed a huge sigh of relief. He knew that no matter what Severus would protect his mother but he also wanted to visit so he could let his mother know he was safe. "It means a lot to me that you believed me."

"Well for some strange reason, I trust you." Hermione said as she stood up. "If you're willing to trust me with your wand, I'm willing to trust you in regards to Snape."

"Thank you." Draco smiled as he also stood.

"You're welcome." Hermione said. "I'm going for a bath. We can iron out the details of our plan when I come back."

"Sure." Draco replied, slightly disappointed that Hermione was rushing off so quickly. "I'll make some dinner and we can eat as we talk."

"That sounds good." Hermione smiled. "I'll not be long."

As Hermione disappeared up the stairs Draco wandered into the kitchen. As he began magically preparing dinner he wondered how to broach the subject of sleeping arrangements. After the previous night and earlier that morning he really wanted Hermione in his bed again, he was just unsure of how to ask her without sounding like an idiot. Carrying on with dinner Draco vowed that whether he had to sound like an idiot or not he would have Hermione in his bed again that night.


	15. Chapter 15

Hermione's eyes fluttered open as she tried to decide what had disturbed her sleep. A quiet moan, combined with a jerking movement behind her, immediately alerted Hermione to the reason she had woken. Reaching for the wand on the bedside table Hermione partially opened one of the curtains, to let some light into the room, before she turned over.

As she suspected, Hermione found Malfoy beginning to drift into a nightmare. After a week of sharing a bed with the Slytherin, Hermione knew it didn't take much to stop his nightmares taking hold of him fully. Moving closer to the blond, Hermione murmured a few soothing words into his ear as she stroked his soft hair. Within minutes Malfoy's moans had ceased and he once again looked to be sleeping peacefully.

Instead of turning back around and putting distance between her and Malfoy, Hermione decided to stay where she was as she tried to get back to sleep. Hermione figured it was pretty pointless to move further away anyway, by the time they awoke they would only be curled up together in the centre of the bed. Going to sleep on opposite sides of the bed and waking up tangled together had been happening ever since the first night Hermione stayed in the Slytherins bed.

Another thing that had been happening regularly were the morning kissing sessions that usually lasted until mid-morning. In the past week Hermione couldn't remember the pair of them leaving bed before half ten. Hermione was definitely becoming a fan of waking up wrapped in Malfoy's arms then spending most of the morning in bed with him. So far all the couple had done was kiss but the heat between them was increasingly steadily and Hermione knew it was only a matter of time before things progressed further.

As Hermione drifted back to sleep she was thinking about the following morning, already anticipating the hours she would spend kissing the attractive boy next to her.

* * *

_Hermione blinked, wondering how she had ended up in the middle of the woods. The sounds of people shouting nearby soon had Hermione forgetting how she had ended up where she was. As she heard someone yell 'get the mudblood' Hermione turned in the opposite direction and ran._

_Hermione ran as fast as her legs could carry her as she tried to ignore the fact that the voices behind her were gaining on her. As she continued running Hermione foolishly turned her head to see if there was any sign of her pursuers. Hermione barely had time to register the black cloaks behind her as she tripped over an upturned root and went flying. _

_Hermione quickly pulled herself to her feet, vaguely aware that the sound of her pursuers had disappeared. Instead of looking behind her Hermione faced straight ahead, only to find herself looking at a grinning Bellatrix. _

"_Gotcha." Bellatrix crowed before grabbing hold of Hermione and dissapparating._

_Hermione closed her eyes as Bellatrix spirited her away. She only opened them when Bellatrix threw her onto a stone floor. Hermione slowly raised her head and looked around the room, recognising it as the room she was first held in when she was kidnapped._

"_What's going on?" Hermione asked, trying not to sound as scared as she was feeling._

"_Watch and you'll see." Bellatrix said, moving to stand behind Hermione._

_Bellatrix yanked Hermione's hair until the young witch was kneeling upright in front of her. As the door to the stone cell opened, Bellatrix tightened her grip on the witch in front of her. Hermione hissed at the pain in her scalp but tried not to struggle too much. Once the door was opened fully Hermione watched as Lucius Malfoy entered the room, levitating a hooded figure behind him. Lucius then shackled the hooded figure to the wall, before stepping back and nodding at Bellatrix._

"_This is all your fault, Mudblood." Bellatrix hissed before magically restraining Hermione in the position she was in._

_Hermione shivered at Bellatrix's words, suddenly having a suspicion of who the hooded figure was. Her suspicions were confirmed when Bellatrix waved her wand and the cloak dropped from around the hooded figure. There shackled to the wall was a shirtless Draco Malfoy, his blond head drooping as though he was unconscious._

"_He's always been weak." Lucius sneered, looking at his son in disgust before turning to glare furiously at Hermione. "But he never would have betrayed The Dark Lord without your interference."_

_Hermione opened her mouth to protest but before she could speak Lucius had backhanded her, causing her lip to split and blood to pool in her mouth. Hermione spat out the blood in her mouth before looking back towards Draco. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw that Bellatrix was standing beside her nephew, a sharp knife in her hand._

"_I think it's time we woke Draco." Bellatrix said, briefly checking her nephew was still unconscious. "This will be fun." She grinned to Lucius, who smirked back at his sister-in-law._

_Bellatrix twirled the knife in her fingers before she stepped in front of Draco. From her position, kneeling on the floor, Hermione couldn't see what Bellatrix was doing but within minutes of her stepping in front of her nephew, the blond boy awakened. At first Draco just made small moaning noises, despite the obvious pain etched on his features. Bellatrix however seemed displeased with his response and whatever she was doing to him she seemed to do it harder as minutes later the blond's moans got louder, eventually turning into painful shouts and screams._

_Despite not knowing what was happening to Draco, Hermione found the tears flowing as she listened to his painful shouts. By the time Bellatrix stepped back slightly from Draco, Hermione was sobbing quietly and could barely see through her tears. When Bellatrix moved further away from Draco, Hermione forced herself to look at the still moaning blond. Hermione sobbed louder as she spotted the word 'traitor' carved into Draco's pale chest, the blood still dripping from the wounds._

"_We've not finished yet." Lucius cackled from behind Hermione. "Watch."_

_Hermione felt Lucius hit her with a spell and without her trying to move it her head turned back towards Draco. Hermione tried to turn away as Bellatrix approached her nephew again but she found her head wouldn't move, she couldn't even shut her eyes. Hermione realised the spell was to make sure she watched whatever terrible thing Bellatrix was going to do now._

_When Bellatrix grabbed Draco's left arm and ran her fingers over his Dark Mark, Hermione had a sick feeling about what was going to happen. Draco also seemed to realise his aunt's intentions as he tried to struggle and begged her not to do it. Bellatrix merely laughed as she placed her blade at the top of Draco's mark._

_As Bellatrix started slicing into Draco's skin Hermione wanted to block out the sight but she still found herself unwillingly watching the torture. Bellatrix had barely started cutting when Draco began to scream in agony, his already pale features losing any colour they still had. Hermione sobbed at the sight and sound, she even found herself pleading with Bellatrix and Lucius to stop._

_The more Bellatrix sliced at Draco's skin, the louder the blond screamed and the more Hermione cried and begged. As the torture continued Hermione was vaguely aware that Draco shouldn't still be conscious, the pain and the massive blood loss should have knocked him out before now, Bellatrix was obviously keeping him awake with magic. Hermione however didn't dwell on Draco's state of consciousness, she was more concerned with the fact his aunt was cutting his arm to shreds. _

_Hermione wasn't sure how long it took Bellatrix to remove Draco's mark, but if felt like an eternity before Bellatrix removed the knife from her nephew's flesh. Even when Bellatrix had finished Draco was still whimpering in pain as blood gushed from his arm and torso. Hermione felt physically ill when she looked at Draco's left wrist with a large portion of his skin missing and blood gushing round the wound. _

_Hermione was so busy staring at Draco, who was rapidly losing consciousness, that she hadn't noticed Bellatrix approaching her. It was only when the witch was standing directly in front of her that Hermione noticed her. Hermione looked up at Bellatrix, who smirked before dropping something into her lap. Hermione looked down and screamed at the sight of Draco's mark lying on her knee._

_Hermione screamed loudly, everything she had just witnessed causing her to break down in tears as she shouted out. As she continued to scream and cry Hermione tried to move to dislodge the piece of skin on her knee. Hermione continued to scream and thrash until she felt a hand on her shoulder._

_Hermione turned her head, expecting to find a gloating Lucius or Bellatrix. Instead she saw a pair of concerned grey eyes and a mop of messy platinum blond hair._

"Draco?" Hermione whispered, blinking several times to ensure she was seeing things correctly.

"I'm here, Granger." Draco responded. He was very aware that Hermione had used his given name for the first time but he was too concerned about her to concentrate on it. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Hermione replied, looking around the semi-dark room. Once she had realised she was sitting up in bed, she became aware that everything she had just witnessed was a dream.

"You didn't sound fine. Your screams were pretty disturbing." Draco said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Hermione turned her head so she was facing Draco and she suddenly had no desire to ever tell the blond the horrifying things she had dreamt about. "No." Hermione shook her head.

"Are you sure? It might help." Draco said, brushing loose strands of hair out of Hermione's face.

"I really don't want to discuss it." Hermione insisted. "It was an awful dream and I don't want to think about it anymore."

"If you change your mind, I'm here." Draco said softly.

"I know." Hermione smiled. "Thank you."

As Hermione sat looking at Draco she found her eyes wandering down to his torso. Looking at the pale, unblemished skin, Hermione couldn't help but shiver as she remembered her dream and what Bellatrix had done.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Draco asked, noticing Hermione shiver.

"Yes." Hermione replied, reaching out and running her hand over Draco's chest. "I'm fine."

Draco merely looked at Hermione but chose not to argue the point. He didn't believe for one minute that she remained unaffected by her nightmare. In fact she still looked slightly dazed.

"We should get some sleep, it's a big day tomorrow." Draco suggested. The following day was Bellatrix's next visit and the day they hoped to escape.

"No." Hermione cried, holding onto Draco so he couldn't lie back down. "I'm not ready to go back to sleep yet."

"That's okay." Draco said. He knew from experience that after a particularly bad nightmare sleeping was often the last thing you wanted to do. "What do you want to do instead?"

Hermione blushed and dipped her head before she mumbled a response. Her dream had brought all her feelings for Draco right to the surface and she wanted to know if what she thought she felt was real. Watching Draco being tortured was quite possibly the most painful thing she had ever felt and she was very aware of how thrilled she was to see him when she woke up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." Draco said, convincing himself he had misheard Hermione's quiet mumblings. There was no way he'd heard what he thought he'd heard.

Hermione raised her head slightly before answering more clearly. "I said, I want you to make love to me."

Draco's eyes widened and he was suddenly very aroused as he realised he had heard correctly in the first place. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He whispered eventually. Refusing Hermione's offer took every ounce of self-control Draco had but he knew he was doing the right thing.

"Oh." Hermione whispered, hurt etched on her face. "I understand." Removing her hand from Draco's chest she pushed the covers to one side as she began to leave the bed.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked, lightly grabbing Hermione's wrist.

"I think I should leave." Hermione said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I've just made a huge fool of myself."

"You haven't." Draco insisted.

"I have." Hermione snorted. "I've just thrown myself at you, only to be rejected. I suppose it's my own fault really, why on earth would you want to sleep with a mudblood like me."

"Don't." Draco snapped, moving so he was sitting directly behind Hermione on the bed. "I haven't called you that in years and I have no intention of ever calling you it again."

"Sorry." Hermione muttered, realising that what Draco was saying was true. She honestly couldn't remember the last time he had called her a mudblood. "But everything else I said was true. I can't stay here after that."

"So you're leaving because you think I don't want to sleep with you?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded. "Yes."

"How can you possibly think that?" Draco asked, pulling Hermione back towards his body. "Surely you can feel how much I want you every morning." He whispered into her ear. "Surely you can feel how much I want you now."

"I can feel it." Hermione whispered, knowing Draco was referring to his erection that was currently pressed into her lower back. "It still didn't stop you from rejecting me. Obviously you don't want me that much."

"You have no idea how much I want you, Hermione." Draco said. "I just don't think it's a good idea right now. Your nightmare has obviously affected you and I'm not going to take advantage of that."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at Draco's words. "So you weren't rejecting me overall, just tonight?" She asked.

"I definitely wasn't rejecting you." Draco whispered, placing a soft kiss on Hermione's neck. "When the time's right I'll make love to you, but only when you're really ready."

"I'll hold you to that." Hermione said, leaning her head back as Draco's lips continued their path down her neck.

"I hope you do." Draco murmured against her skin. "Are you coming back to bed now?" He asked.

Hermione nodded and Draco moved back to allow her back under the covers. Once she was back in bed Draco wrapped his arms around Hermione as she settled down right next to him. Within minutes of returning to bed Hermione was drifting off to sleep, her head nestled on Draco's chest. Draco watched as Hermione fell asleep, amazed that minutes ago she was upset that he wouldn't sleep with her when clearly she was too exhausted to actually do anything anyway.


	16. Chapter 16

When Draco awoke he found Hermione was already awake also. The brunette witch was lying on her side, her fingers tracing patterns over Draco's bare chest. As Hermione carried on running her fingers over Draco's skin she was completely unaware the blond Slytherin was awake and watching her curiously.

Draco had noticed the previous night that Hermione seemed to be distracted by his torso. Over the last week Hermione had ran her hands over his body many times but Draco had never noticed a particular fixation with his chest before the previous night. He suspected her newfound fascination with his torso had something to do with her nightmare but he also suspected that she wouldn't be any more forthcoming about the contents than she had been the night before.

Draco watched Hermione for a few minutes before moving his hand to stroke through her curls, alerting the witch in question that he was awake. Hermione immediately raised her head to look at Draco.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" She asked, wondering if her wandering hands had woken the blond.

"No." Draco shook his head. "Are you okay this morning?" He asked.

"Apart from the lingering embarrassment, I'm fine." Hermione replied, blushing slightly as she remembered her actions the previous night. "I'm sorry for putting you in that position but thank you for not taking advantage."

"I'm not going to lie, Granger, it wasn't easy turning you down." Draco said. "In fact it was quite possibly one of the hardest things I've ever done."

"Why did you?" Hermione asked. "I know you said you didn't want to take advantage but if we had slept together then you would have gotten what you wanted from me."

"No, I wouldn't have." Draco shook his head as his fingers stroked the side of Hermione's face. "If we had gone through with it then this morning you would have regretted it and in all likelihood you wouldn't be up for a repeat performance."

"You don't just want it to be a one-off then?" Hermione asked. Part of her had been wondering what would happen if she ever slept with the blond Slytherin, It was the fear that he might sleep with her once then discard her that had so far stopped her from giving in to her desires.

"No, I don't." Draco admitted. "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I want a full on relationship because I actually have no idea what I want in the long term. I'm not sure if it's our confinement, with only each other for company or what, but I do know that I want you. And I want you for more than a one night stand."

"Good, because I have no intention of having a one night stand with anyone." Hermione said. "I want you too, but I also have no idea whether it's a short term or a long term thing."

"How about we worry about the future in the future." Draco suggested. "For all we know this could just be a war time fling or it could be the start of something really special, either way I reckon we should just go with the flow."

"I like that idea." Hermione murmured, moving closer to Draco. "We have no idea if we'll survive the war so we should live for the moment."

Draco nodded once before dropping his lips onto Hermione's. As they kissed Draco's hand wandered down Hermione's side, finding the bottom of her thin pyjama top. The moment his hands touched the bare skin of her hip Hermione moaned softly and pushed herself closer to Draco. Draco smirked at Hermione's reaction as his lips started trailing along her jawline and down onto her neck while his hand explored the skin of her lower stomach and back.

Hermione's own hands found their way to Draco's half naked torso, one rested against his chest while the other went around his back as she traced his spine with her fingertips. Hermione felt Draco moan quietly against her neck as her fingers trailed lower and played with the waistband of his pyjama bottoms. Hermione herself was making content little humming noises as Draco's hands continued to gently caress her soft flesh, as his hands started to venture higher up her torso the noises got louder until she whimpered softly as his fingertips brushed the underside of her breast.

When Draco's hand cupped her breast and his thumb circled her nipple Hermione moaned loudly and stopped her own exploration of the blond's body as she got lost in the feeling Draco's hand was producing. Draco continued to kiss at Hermione's neck, gradually working his way down to her shoulder, as his hand continued its work under her top.

Hermione was breathing heavily and moaning softly as Draco continued to stimulate her breasts. She could feel Draco's arousal pressed into her thigh and she knew how aroused she was. Normally their make out sessions ended with both of them highly aroused and often frustrated but they had never ventured any further together. Hermione decided that it was time to progress their relationship and actually do something about the feelings they produced in one another.

Felling brave with her decision Hermione removed Draco's hands off her and pushed him back onto the bed. Draco looked confused by Hermione's actions but before he had a chance to ask what was wrong Hermione had moved so she was straddling his hips. Both Hermione and Draco moaned as Hermione settled herself on Draco, rubbing against his erection as she did so.

"We don't have to do anything you're not ready for, Granger." Draco said, his voice rougher than normal as he fought the urge to flip her over and take her immediately.

"I know. I don't think I'm ready for sex yet, but there's other stuff we can do." Hermione smiled down at Draco. "Right?" She added, unsure if Draco would be up for anything less than full on intercourse.

"Definitely." Draco said with a grin. "We can do whatever you want."

Hermione smiled again, suddenly regaining her confidence. Leaning down she engaged Draco in a slow, sensual kiss before pulling away after a few minutes. Draco was visibly disappointed at the shortness of the kiss but his disappointment soon faded when Hermione bit her bottom lip and reached for the bottom of her pyjama top. Draco's light grey eyes darkened significantly as Hermione slowly removed her top, revealing her flat, taught stomach before her soft, full breasts came into view.

Draco swore softly at the sight as his hands reached up and touched the flesh he was seeing for the first time. Hermione closed her eyes as Draco's hands cupped her breasts while his fingers gently toyed with her pebbled nipples. Hermione lost herself to the feeling of having Draco's hands on her body. She was jolted back to reality when she felt something wet on her right breast, opening her eyes she found Draco had sat up slightly and his tongue was drawing patterns on the skin of her breast.

Hermione moaned at the feeling as she tangled one hand in Draco's soft hair while the other gripped his shoulder. Instinctively she rolled her hips against Draco's, wanting to create some friction where her body ached to be touched. Draco groaned around Hermione's breast and bucked his hips slightly, causing Hermione to dig her nails into his shoulder as his erection pressed firmly against her crotch.

Draco moved his hands to Hermione's hips, helping her rock against him. As they set a pace that was pleasing to the both of them Draco began kissing his way back up towards Hermione's mouth. When Draco's lips pressed against Hermione's the couple stilled the movement of their hips as they enjoyed a long, slow kiss. When they parted both Hermione and Draco were breathing heavily as they sat for a while just looking into each other's eyes.

"I want you to touch me." Hermione whispered, still sounding slightly breathless after the kiss.

"I thought that was what I had been doing." Draco smirked before once again trailing kisses down Hermione's neck.

Hermione leant her head back and let Draco kiss her for a while before she pulled his head back up so she could see him properly. "You know what I mean." She said, trying to control the blush that threated to break out onto her pale skin.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, one of his hands already moving from her hip to stroke her lower abdomen.

Hermione nodded before recapturing Draco's lips with her own. As they kissed Draco's hand continued to stroke Hermione's stomach, gradually making its way towards the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. Hermione moaned into Draco's mouth as she felt his hand move into her pyjamas and stroke her through the thin material of her underwear. Draco continued to touch Hermione slowly and gently until her hips began thrusting against his hand, desperate for more friction.

Moving back so he could watch Hermione's reaction, Draco worked his hand under the thin material of her underwear. Draco groaned and swore softly at Hermione's wetness while Hermione closed her eyes as she made content purring noises. When Draco's fingers found the spot they were looking for Hermione leant forward and buried her head in Draco's shoulder, lightly biting the base of his neck.

Hermione continued to kiss and lick at Draco's neck, trailing from his shoulder to his ear, while Draco's fingers expertly stroked and caressed her. Whenever Hermione's lips were up at Draco's ear she would breathlessly beg him for more, causing his fingers to speed up their actions. When the feelings Draco was creating got too much for Hermione she stopped her attentions to Draco's neck, instead she clung onto the blond as her breathing got heavier and her moans got louder.

"Oh god, Draco." Hermione gasped. "Draco!"

Draco's name slipped from Hermione's lips several more times as she began to climax, her nails digging into Draco's shoulders as she held onto the blond underneath her. The sight of Hermione sitting on top of him half-naked and writhing in pleasure was enough to send Draco over the edge. Thrusting his hips upwards a few times Draco moaned Hermione's name as he came.

Coming down from her high Hermione collapsed against Draco, who settled back down onto the bed. Draco removed his hand from in between them and wrapped his arms around Hermione as she lay content on his chest. For several minutes the couple were content to lie in silence as they recovered from their morning activities.

Hermione was the first to move, raising her head slightly she looked up into Draco's grey eyes. "That was amazing." She smiled.

"I'm pleased you enjoyed it." Draco responded, pushing several unruly curls out of Hermione's face. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"We will." Hermione agreed. "But right now we really need to get up and get prepared for your aunt's visit this afternoon."

"You really know how to spoil the mood, Granger." Draco rolled his eyes as Hermione reached for her top lying beside them and put it back on.

"I'm just being practical." Hermione protested. "As much as I would love to spend the entire day in bed with you, I want to escape even more."

"I suppose escaping does sound appealing." Draco said as Hermione clambered off him and sat on the edge of the bed. "But we're definitely exploring the staying in bed all day option at a later date."

Hermione turned round and gave Draco a dazzling smile. "I'll look forward to it."

Draco smiled back before leaning over and capturing Hermione's lips in another kiss. Hermione lost herself in the kiss for a minute but when Draco attempted to deepen it she reluctantly pulled away.

"We have to get up, I'll use the bathroom first." She said, placing a quick kiss on his cheek before darting off his bed and leaving the room.

As Hermione made first use of the bathroom Draco remained in bed, wondering whether their plans would run smoothly. He also wondered what would happen with him and Hermione once they were free. Several times in the last twelve hours or so they had discussed continuing their relationship but Draco wasn't sure if she would be so keen to carry on sleeping with him once Potter and Weasley were back in the picture. All he could do now was hope the presence of her friends wouldn't affect the brunette's feelings for him.

"The bathroom's free." Draco was jolted from his thoughts by Hermione poking her head round the door to the bedroom.

Thanking Hermione, Draco headed into the bathroom where he began getting ready for the day ahead.

* * *

"Is that everything?" Draco asked before he zipped up his bag. Hermione had cast an extendable charm to his bag so they could pack everything the two of them needed in one place.

"Yes, that's it." Hermione nodded.

Draco zipped up the bag and left it on the bed, along with jackets for both of them. Turning back to Hermione the pair then made their way down stairs where they settled in the front room. It was still late morning so they had a few more hours before they had to prepare for Bellatrix's visit.

"What are you planning on telling Potter and Weasley about us?" Draco asked.

"Nothing." Hermione admitted. "It's not that I'm ashamed of what we're doing it's just that I don't think it'll be conductive to you settling in if they know about us."

"I understand." Draco reassured Hermione. "I just wanted to make sure I didn't say or do anything that might give the game away if you're wanting to keep it secret."

"Not secret, private." Hermione corrected Draco. "If they ask about us I'm not going to lie, but I'm also not going to announce it either."

"Have you thought about sleeping arrangements?" Draco inquired. "I admit I'm going to miss having you next to me on a night."

"Hopefully you won't have to miss me. Until we get back to the Order I have no idea what's going on or where we'll be based but I've already decided to try and wrangle it so we can either share a room or be able to sneak into one another's rooms." Hermione explained, she already had several ideas of how to ensure she and Draco remained together on a night.

"You know Granger, you're pretty cunning when you want to be." Draco said with admiration. Over the course of his imprisonment with Hermione he had discovered that there was far more to the Gryffindor than he had thought, she was so much more than just a know-it-all bookworm.

"Thanks." Hermione said hesitantly. "I think that's a compliment coming from you."

"When a Slytherin calls you cunning it's definitely a compliment." Draco said.

Hermione thanked Draco again before changing the subject to their upcoming escape attempt. For the next hour they ran over the plan, checking they both knew what to do when the time came. Draco also spent a bit of time convincing Hermione she would succeed in the first phase of the plan, over the course of the week she had gotten excellent at stunning him the second he appeared in the room.

Just after midday Draco handed Hermione his wand as she went to settle into a dark corner. They had decided the corner would provide optimum coverage of the area Bellatrix was likely to appear in. With a final exchange of good lucks Hermione cast a dissolutionment charm over herself as the couple settled down to await Bellatrix's arrival.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N - Sorry for the long delay, I've been writing a new story and got so into it I didn't even want to look at any other stories in case I got distracted. Now it's finished I can finally get a new chapter up. Hope you enjoy.**

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Draco sat on the sofa, sneaking a look at his watch as he tried to avoid looking at the corner where Hermione was hidden. They had only been waiting an hour for Bellatrix to show up but Draco was already feeling the strain. Normally he would just sit and wait for his aunt's visit but it felt odd having Hermione in the room and ignoring her. Draco knew he couldn't risk speaking to the hidden Gryffindor as his aunt could arrive any time and they needed to take her by surprise if their plan was to work.

It was nearly another hour before Draco spotted the wards begin to flicker before they collapsed completely. In that brief moment he had time to nod his head, hoping Hermione was paying attention and was ready. When the crack of apparition sounded Draco turned to where his aunt had suddenly appeared. Bellatrix barely had time to look in Draco's direction before she froze and toppled onto the floor.

As Draco rushed to his aunt's side he glanced out the window, thrilled to see Hermione had managed to stun his aunt before she had time to re-erect the wards. Grabbing Bellatrix's wand Draco turned to see Hermione appearing from the corner. Wordlessly they exchanged wands and Draco levitated his aunt onto the chair. Once she was on the chair he restrained her magically so even if she was revived it would take her a while to escape.

While Draco was dealing with his aunt Hermione was trying to get the feel of Bellatrix's wand. While Draco's wand had felt comfortable in her grasp and she could wield it easily she felt a lot more uncertain of the wand she was holding. Hermione wasn't sure if she was just being silly but she could swear the wand felt evil, as though it was meant to do dark magic.

"Granger, get the bag." Draco said, briefly looking up from where he was busy with his aunt.

It had been decided that Hermione would try summoning the bag as they needed to see if the wand would work for her. The first time Hermione tried to get the bag the wand merely emitted purple sparks but on the second attempt the bag flew down the stairs and landed at her feet.

"Will you be able to control it okay?" Draco asked, moving to beside Hermione and picking up the bag.

"I think so." Hermione replied, looking at the wand in her grasp. "I think it just needs a firm command. The first time I was slightly hesitant but it worked fine with more confidence."

"Are we going to try apparating from in here?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded and grabbed onto Draco's hand. Taking a deep breath Hermione held tight to Bellatrix's wand as she tried to apparate. When nothing happened Hermione turned to Draco in disappointment.

"Your turn."

Making sure their hands were still tightly wrapped round each other Draco raised his wand and tried to apparate. Unlike when Hermione tried the pair felt the brief stirrings of apparition but they quickly subsided and they eventually remained where they were.

"Outside." Hermione said, leading the way towards the front door.

Once outside the house they tried the same procedure again, producing very similar results. When Hermione tried to apparate nothing happened but when Draco tried they once again felt the pull of apparition briefly, although they still didn't move.

After the second attempt they walked down the garden path and exited the gate that was normally hidden behind the wards. Once they were outside of where the wards normally were they prepared to try and apparate a third time, hoping they would strike lucky this time.

As per their arrangement Hermione tried apparating them first. Unlike her previous tries they both felt the pull of apparition briefly before it subsided, it felt very much like the what had happened when Draco tried to apparate inside the perimeters of the house and it's wards. With a sense of slight anticipation Draco then began his attempt to get them moving. When the pull of apparition took hold of them properly both Hermione and Draco were thrilled until it stopped less than a minute later. Opening their eyes they discovered they had apparated a few metres down the road.

"At least it's progress." Hermione said as Draco began complaining about how little they had moved.

"Yeah, let's just get out of here a metre at a time. That won't take very long at all." Draco muttered, earning him a glare from Hermione. "Sorry, I'm just frustrated." He said, not wanting to get on her bad side while they were in the middle of escaping.

"It's fine." Hermione brushed off Draco's disappointment as she began to look at their surroundings. "It's time we started walking. We can try and apparate every hour, maybe we'll be more successful the further away from the house we get."

After looking around for a minute the pair decided to head in the direction of a wooded area off to the right of the house. Everywhere else was open fields and they knew if the Death Eaters arrived they would be open targets, at least in the woods they would have some cover.

"Do you think it means anything that I can at least apparate a little way?" Draco asked as they began their trek towards the woods.

"I think it means your mark is allowing you to apparate." Hermione said. "Obviously outside the house the protection isn't as strong as I can also feel the pull but I think our best bet will be you getting us out."

"Do you think we'll have to wait until he allows the Death Eaters into the area or do you think we'll end up so far away that the protection just doesn't work?" Draco asked.

"I have no idea." Hermione admitted. "Although I'm hoping the further away from the house we get the easier it will be to leave."

"Hopefully." Draco sighed as the pair lapsed into silence.

For nearly an hour they walked together without speaking until they had reached the outskirts of the wooded area. Stopping just before they entered the trees they decided to try and apparate again. The results were exactly the same as they had been outside the wards, Hermione produced the feeling of apparition while Draco apparated them a few metres into the woods.

"Better luck next time." Hermione shrugged, turning towards the main body of trees. "Come on, let's get moving." She called as she surged ahead.

With a few strides Draco had caught up with Hermione and they began to navigate the woods side by side. After about ten minutes of silence Hermione started talking about a camping trip she had taken when she was younger and before long they were happily sharing memories of their childhood. Hermione wasn't shocked that Draco's happy memories only seemed to contain his mother, all of his stories consisted of places his mother had taken him to and things they had done.

After another hour they tried apparating again, and once again they had the same results. As they set off again and Hermione started chattering away again she failed to notice Draco was walking slightly behind her rubbing his wrist. Draco had first noticed the pains in his arm where his mark was located about half an hour earlier but they had constantly increased and he now felt a continuing burning in his forearm.

Not wanting Hermione to realise he was in pain Draco remained slightly behind her so she wouldn't notice him rubbing his arm and the grimaces that were starting to show on his face as the pain increased. Draco's part in the conversation had dropped off dramatically by the time they reached their next check point but Hermione didn't seem to notice.

After Hermione had tried to apparate them Draco felt a wave of nausea and had to steady himself before he raised his own wand. Hermione frowned at the delay but didn't say anything as the pull of apparition took over. Unlike the previous times the feeling of apparating lasted longer and when they came to a halt Hermione was convinced they had moved a longer distance.

Turning to Draco in excitement Hermione stilled when she got a good look at her travelling companion. Draco was deathly white and he looked to be having a hard time remaining upright.

"Draco, are you alright?" Hermione asked, only vaguely aware that his first name had slipped out of her mouth in her concern. The only other times she had called him Draco was in the throes of passion.

"Not feeling too good." Draco whispered as he reached out and grabbed hold of a nearby tree to steady himself.

Draco shut his eyes and held onto the tree until the nausea had passed and he felt steadier on his feet. Opening his eyes again he found Hermione staring at him in concern.

"What's going on?" Hermione demanded, reaching up and feeling his head with the back of her hand. "You're burning up. How long have you been feeling unwell?"

"A little before the last checkpoint." Draco admitted, trying hard not to wince as he felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

"What was that?" Hermione questioned, seeing the blond wincing in pain. "What's hurting?"

Not trusting his voice to hold up under the pain he was now feeling Draco held his arm out towards Hermione. Gently she rolled up his sleeve, gasping as his Dark Mark came into view. The skin around the black tattoo was bright red and the mark itself looked to be moving slightly.

"Can you carry on?" Hermione asked.

Draco nodded. "Yes, I have to."

"Okay, I'm taking the bag though." Hermione said, stopping Draco as he went to object.

After casting a lightweight charm on the bag Hermione threw it over her shoulder and the pair once again continued their journey. With Hermione now aware of Draco's ill health she kept a closer eye on the blond and could see how much more he was struggling as the minutes went by. By the time they reached another checkpoint Hermione was seriously worried that he was going to collapse on her.

"Can you handle trying to apparate again?" Hermione asked a very pale looking Draco.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Draco said through gritted teeth. The pain was really starting to affect him but he was determined they would escape, getting caught wasn't something he was even prepared to think about.

"If you say so." Hermione looked sceptical that Draco was strong enough to apparate but she didn't argue as they did really need to escape.

When Hermione tried to apparate the results were the exactly the same as their previous attempt. This time though she was prepared for Draco feeling ill and kept a tighter hold on him as she let him recover before his turn. After a couple of minutes Draco had the strength to raise his wand and like the previous time they travelled a little bit further.

As soon as they landed Draco staggered towards a nearby tree and Hermione helped him to sit down. As Draco sat trying to shake the nausea he was feeling Hermione dug around in the bag and found a bottle of water. Handing it to the blond she insisted they stop for five minutes to rest. Draco wanted to argue, he knew they should be putting as much distance between themselves and the house as possible, but he just didn't have the energy to protest.

After a rest of nearly ten minutes Hermione helped Draco up and they once again began to walk. As they were walking Hermione thought it might help Draco forget the pain in his mark if he was talking so she began asking him questions. At first Draco thought she was just trying to get to know more about him but he found the more he talked the less focus he was placing on his arm. His arm was still getting more painful by the minute but with Hermione's questions to focus on it didn't seem quite as bad.

Hermione was in the middle of asking Draco about previous girlfriends when they both suddenly felt the air around them ripple, closely followed by a series of shouts. The voices were too far away to distinguish what they were saying but they knew exactly who the voices belonged to, the Death Eaters had arrived.

"We have to get out of here, now." Hermione cried, holding tightly onto Draco. "You'll have to try and apparate."

Draco knew there was no point trying the same thing they had been doing all afternoon, if he couldn't apparate then neither could Hermione. Praying it would work properly this time Draco held up his wand and began the process of apparition. Like the previous times the pull quickly took hold of them but instead of ending after a minute the feeling lasted slightly longer.

When they finally landed Draco took a few minutes to steady himself as Hermione looked around. Hermione grinned as she realised it had worked, they were no longer in the woods. Hermione wasn't sure where they were, they seemed to be standing on a cliff and she could hear the sea below them. Hermione turned to ask Draco where they were just in time to see him scream out in agony and clutch his wrist.

Hermione rushed to Draco's side and took another look at his mark. It looked pretty much the same as earlier but the redness seemed to spreading further up Draco's arm, she wasn't an expert but it looked like the mark was beginning to burn the Slytherins arm.

"I don't know what to do." Hermione said sounding slightly panicky. She hated the fact that Draco was in so much pain and she didn't know how to help him. "We have no potions with us and I have no idea what spells would help. I could even make things worse."

"Severus." Draco gasped, struggling to speak without screaming.

"Of course, he might be able to help." Hermione said, more to herself than Draco. "We can't go straight there though, we have to leave the Death Eaters a false trail." She added, talking directly to Draco. "Can you handle that?"

Draco nodded his head sharply. "Get on with it Granger."

Grabbing hold of Draco she ignored his snappish attitude, she was putting it down to the pain. Making sure he was ready Hermione held out Bellatrix's wand and apparated them to London. Hermione's knowledge of London was pretty basic but she knew enough tourist attractions to apparate to several places that she knew would be crowded. Several times Hermione apparated in and out of crowds but she didn't have time to worry about secrecy, she was hoping that it was so busy that people didn't notice her and Draco suddenly appearing from nowhere and disappearing into thin air moments later.

Draco actually held up pretty well, despite the fact his arm was clearly getting worse he managed to stay upright with a bit of help from Hermione. After apparating to about five different tourist spots in London, Hermione turned to Draco and told him it was his turn. She had no idea where Snape lived so the responsibility of finding their Potions Professor was on Draco.

Hermione had manoeuvred her and Draco into a side street so the blond had relative privacy to apparate them to Snape's. Hermione still had her arm wrapped securely around Draco as he weakly raised his wand and used the last of his energy to apparate.

When they landed a few minutes later Hermione barely had time to register the small cottage they had landed in front of as she felt Draco struggling to stand beside her. Hermione turned and wrapped her other arm around Draco but her small frame wasn't enough support and the blond collapsed to the floor.

"Draco." Hermione cried out and knelt down beside the prone figure of the Slytherin.

Hermione vaguely registered a presence appearing behind her but all her attention was focused on the unconscious Slytherin. Right now she didn't have the time to check if the approaching presence was friend or foe, Hermione was too busy trying to work out if Draco was still breathing.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N - I'm so sorry for the delay but other stories have just distracted me and I haven't really worked on this in a while. I have two more chapters already wrote but updates will be slower than normal as I try to get a few more chapters written. **

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Alone in his cottage Severus anxiously paced the floor. Just under an hour ago he had received an owl from Narcissa, informing him that something was happening with Draco. From the sounds of her letter Narcissa was being kept in the dark but she knew enough to tell him that The Dark Lord started getting anxious when Bellatrix hadn't returned from visiting Draco after an hour or so. When he finally got too impatient and went to see what was keeping Bellatrix he was only gone a matter of minutes before he returned in a temper and ordered Lucius to go with him.

When Lucius had left with Voldemort, Narcissa had taken the opportunity to quickly inform Severus of what was happening, although she said she was too worried to leave the Manor until she knew what exactly was happening. Severus himself was anxious to know what was going on but considering he hadn't been summoned by Voldemort he knew it wouldn't be wise to visit the Manor. The last thing Severus wanted was for Narcissa to get into trouble for confiding in him, he also didn't want Voldemort to realise they had both encouraged Draco to flee.

Severus was still pacing, and worrying about Narcissa, when he felt his wards being breached. Severus knew from the feel of the wards that whoever had apparated onto the property were keyed into the wards to allow them easy access. Apart from himself only two other people had free access to his cottage, Narcissa and Draco.

Severus waited a minute, expecting a knock on the door, but when nothing happened he pulled out his wand and headed for the front door. Cautiously opening the door he looked outside. The second he spotted the crumpled figure of Draco lying on his front lawn and the second figure of Hermione kneeling beside him, he flung the door open and bolted across the grass.

As Severus arrived behind Hermione the young Gryffindor didn't even look up, her entire focus was on the blond boy lying at her feet. Kneeling down beside Hermione, Severus quickly checked Draco over with his wand.

"What happened?" He asked, not looking up from the prone boy on his lawn. "He's burning up."

"It's something to do with his Mark." Hermione replied, sounding as though she was on the verge of tears. "It's been hurting him for a while and it's getting worse."

"We need to get him inside." Severus said, pocketing his wand and lifting Draco into his arms. "Open the doors for me, we're going straight up the stairs to the room at the back."

Hermione hurried ahead of Severus, making sure the front door was wide open before leading the way up the small handful of steps and opening the door to the small spare room at the back of the house. Severus was right behind Hermione, only stopping briefly to shut the front door behind them.

Severus laid Draco onto the bed and ordered Hermione to visit the bathroom next door and make a cold compress from one of the washcloths. While Hermione was retrieving the cold compress, Severus resumed his examination of Draco, concentrating on looking at his burning Dark Mark. Severus was still examining the Mark when Hermione returned with the compress, immediately laying it over his clammy forehead.

"Keep the compress on him, we need to bring down his temperature." Severus ordered as he moved away from the bed. "I'm going downstairs to get some things I think can help, shout if you need me."

As Hermione sat on the floor next to Draco, Severus rushed off down the stairs. Heading into the room he used for storing ingredients and making Potions, Severus grabbed several vials of pre-prepared potions along with a tub of ointment and a medical bag. Severus knew he would probably have to brew more potions overnight but for the minute he had enough to help Draco.

Rushing back upstairs he found Hermione tending to Draco. Severus placed the supplies on the bedside table as he began sorting through them. Finding the pain relief potion he uncorked the vial and made his way towards Draco's side. Moving Hermione out of the way he poured the entire vial down Draco's throat, the potion would start working in moments and Draco would at least have some respite for the pain he was obviously in.

"What's happening to him?" Hermione asked, moving back into position at Draco's side. He was still unconscious but his heart rate was gradually getting stronger again.

"His body is being attacked by The Dark Mark." Severus explained. "Voldemort can control the Mark and obviously he's causing Draco's distress."

"Can you stop it?" Hermione looked at Severus for the first time and he could clearly see the concern written on her face.

"I can control the pain, The Dark Lord is the only person who can stop it completely." Severus sighed.

"How much can you control the pain?" Hermione asked.

"I think I can make it bearable for Draco." Severus explained, returning to his supply of potions sitting on the bedside table. "I'm confident that with the right treatment the pain will just be a nagging annoyance."

"What are you going to do?" Hermione moved away from Draco to look at the array of potions Severus was examining.

"First of all I've already given him a pain potion, but I'll make him up a stronger batch for when he's awake." Severus said. "I'm also going to use an ointment on his Mark that will need applying twice a day."

As he was explaining his treatments to Hermione, Severus made his way back to the bed where Draco was lying. Opening a second vial he poured that down the blond's throat before he began removing Draco's shirt.

"What potion did you just give him?" Hermione questioned. It wasn't that she distrusted her Potions Professor, she just wanted to know what was happening.

"Just a second pain potion." Severus explained, throwing Draco's shirt onto the floor. "Until he wakes up I have no idea how much pain he's in so until then I want to try and alleviate as much of it as possible."

"Are you sure he'll wake up?" Hermione nervously bit her lip as she looked at Draco, so far he hadn't shown any signs of waking up.

"Yes, his body is just trying to deal with the pain so it's shutting itself down. The more we can reduce the pain the faster Draco will wake up."

As he spoke Severus grabbed the tub of ointment off the bedside table and told Hermione to join him at the bed. Spreading the clear ointment over Draco's vivid Mark, Severus explained that it would need to be applied every morning and every night and needed to cover the entire Mark and the surrounding skin. When he was finished Severus put the lid back on the tub and grabbed a bandage from the medical bag.

"Covering the Mark will help the ointment soak into the skin." Severus explained, handing Hermione the bandage. "Wrap his arm tightly and a new bandage will need to be applied fresh with every application of the ointment."

As Hermione wrapped Draco's arm Severus administered a third pain potion and checked Draco's vitals. Satisfied Draco was as comfortable as they could make him Severus began tidying the bedside table. Once everything was neatly packed up he turned to Hermione, who was still sitting beside Draco.

"Have you eaten today?" Severus asked. "I was just about to make some supper, you should come and eat."

"I'm fine." Hermione shook her head. "I don't want to leave Draco alone, he might wake up."

Severus raised an eyebrow at Hermione's use of Draco's first name but he didn't comment on it, instead he moved to Hermione's side and gently pulled her to her feet. "He won't wake up until tomorrow. Come and have some food. We also have things to discuss."

Hermione looked unsure of leaving Draco but when Severus insisted she found herself following her Professor downstairs and into a small kitchen. "What do we need to discuss?" She asked as Severus told her take a seat at the small table.

"A few things." Severus responded as he set about magically cooking a bit of supper. "But we'll eat first."

Supper was chicken casserole, which was eaten in slightly awkward silence. Once the meal was finished Severus cleared the dishes and made a pot of tea.

"I take it you're planning on taking Draco to the Order." Severus said as he handed Hermione her drink.

"Yes, that's the plan." Hermione said. "I'm just hoping they'll accept him."

"And if they don't?" Severus inquired, hoping Hermione wasn't going to abandon Draco if her friends proved difficult.

"We haven't really spoken about it, but I figured if there was no way we could stay with the order then we would leave. I'm sure we can go into hiding somewhere, although I'm hoping that won't happen."

"Hopefully not." Severus agreed. He was hoping that at least a couple of people would be willing to give Draco a chance.

"When do you think Draco will be fit enough to leave?" Hermione asked. "Is it even safe for us here?"

"It's safe." Severus reassured Hermione. "And as for when he'll be fit enough to leave, I'm not sure. When he wakes up I'll be able to tell properly, but hopefully it will be sometime tomorrow."

"What about the ointment for his arm?" Hermione asked. "We can't keep coming back here for you to look after him."

"I'll make up a batch for you tonight, I'll also make a batch of stronger pain potion. I can give you a good supply of both before you leave, I'll also give you the recipe for both the ointment and the potion. I'm sure someone within the Order can make them up when you need more."

"Thank you." Hermione smiled.

"Now I have a question. Why did you come to me?" Severus asked. Ever since he had spotted the pair of his front lawn he had been wondering why they hadn't gone straight to the Order.

"Draco really wanted to see you, he wants to make sure his mother knows he's safe." Hermione explained.

Severus smiled at Draco's thoughtfulness in regards to Narcissa, he knew it would be a great comfort to the witch to know he was safe. Just as he was going to ask about why Hermione went along with the idea Severus felt his own Mark burning slightly. Pulling up his sleeve he looked down at the black snake, the slight pulsing indicated he had just been summoned.

"I have to go." Severus said, pulling his sleeve back down and standing up. "I'm afraid Draco's in the spare room but there should be some spare blankets in the airing cupboard upstairs, feel free to make a bed in the front room or something."

Hermione thanked Severus and made her way back upstairs as he prepared to face Voldemort. Severus took a few minutes to compose himself and lock his memories about the last hour or so safely away in his head before he apparated to Malfoy Manor.

When Severus arrived at the Manor it became apparent that Voldemort had called a full meeting. As he slipped into the dining room and took his place around the table Severus hoped he would have the opportunity to see Narcissa after the meeting.

Not long after Severus sat down Voldemort stormed into the room, an angry looking Bellatrix following him. As Voldemort took his place at the head of the table Lucius entered the room, also looking furious.

"This is just a quick meeting." Voldemort announced as he stood up. "Earlier today there was an incident with Draco Malfoy. As many of you know we were in possession of Potter's mudblood, until Draco helped her escape. From this moment Draco Malfoy is no longer a Death Eater, he's the enemy." Voldemort sat down as he turned to the man at his side. "Lucius."

"As everyone knows with Dumbledore dead Potter is our number one target, but he belongs to The Dark Lord." Lucius inclined his head in Voldemort's direction when he mentioned him. "We now have two more top priority targets, my son and the mudblood. Both are to be killed on sight."

Severus watched in amazement as Lucius calmly declared his son an enemy before he sat back down. As much as Severus expected Lucius to support Voldemort he never for one minute thought he would abandon his own son in such a way. From the steely glint in Lucius's eye Severus was under no illusions what would happen if the two Malfoy men should ever meet again, Lucius had picked his side and his son was now firmly in the opposition camp as far as he was concerned.

Voldemort spoke for another ten minutes before dismissing the meeting. Severus quickly left the dining room and making sure he was unseen he slipped away from the crowds of departing Death Eaters, heading into the darkness of the Manor. From the looks of things when he had left the dining room Lucius would be busy with Voldemort for some time so Severus thought it was an ideal time to pay Narcissa a visit.

Severus knew that in the last few months Narcissa had been dividing her time between the garden and a small sitting room near the back of the house. Since it was late evening he decided to try the sitting room first. Luckily Narcissa was sitting on the sofa, staring into the flames of a roaring fire, when Severus entered the room.

Severus shut the door behind him and cast several privacy charms around the room before he made his way towards Narcissa. Until he reached the sofa and spoke Narcissa hadn't even realised anyone had entered the room.

"Severus, what are you doing here?" Narcissa looked about warily as though someone was going to jump out at them.

"It's safe to speak, the room is silenced." Severus said as he sat down next to Narcissa.

"Do you know what's happening?" Narcissa grabbed hold of Severus's hands and practically pleaded with the wizard to fill her in on what was happening.

Severus quickly explained what had happened with the meeting, hating the way Narcissa's face fell as he mentioned that fact that Draco was now a wanted man. "But I do have some good news. Draco's at my house and he's safe."

"Oh, thank Merlin." Narcissa gasped, a few tears of relief slipping down her face. "Is everything okay with him? Is he going to the Order?"

"Yes, he's going to the Order." Severus said. "Once he leaves mine I'm not sure if I'll see him again but if I do I'll keep you updated."

"Thank you so much, Severus." Narcissa smiled at the wizard and squeezed his hand that she was still holding. "I don't know what Draco and I would have done without you."

Severus blushed slightly at the praise but quickly deflected the conversation away from him and towards Narcissa and how she was coping. After spending a few more minutes with Narcissa, Severus got up as he prepared to leave. When Narcissa also stood up and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek Severus turned bright red and made a hasty retreat.

Severus made his way through the Manor quickly and quietly and managed to leave the property without anyone realising he hadn't left with the other Death Eaters. Apparating home he set extra protective wards around the property before entering the cottage and magically locking the door behind him.

Severus wasn't sure if Hermione would have taken up his offer to set up a bed on the sofa so he moved around the house quietly as he secured the back door. Before heading upstairs Severus poked his head into the front room, finding it empty. Still being quiet Severus made his way upstairs and headed to the spare bedroom.

Stopping in the doorway and taking in the scene in the bedroom answered a lot of questions Severus had regarding Hermione and Draco's relationship. It had been clear from the beginning that Hermione cared deeply about Draco and his wellbeing and now Severus was beginning to see why.

Instead of making up a bed in the front room Hermione was curled up next to Draco, her head resting on his bare chest. Looking at the sleeping couple Severus couldn't help but smile, maybe something good could have come from this mess if Draco and Hermione found happiness with each other. Hoping that the sleeping couple could overcome whatever obstacles they would face in the coming months Severus retreated from the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Instead of heading to his own bedroom and falling into bed, which was what he really wanted to do, Severus made his way back downstairs. Entering his makeshift potions laboratory Severus set about brewing the stronger pain potion and making the ointment for Draco's arm. While he still wasn't sure when Draco and Hermione would be leaving him he wanted them to have a good supply of both potion and ointment. Unless Draco was going to do something drastic and amputate his arm, the potion and ointment would be the only way he would be able to handle the horrendous pain coming from his Mark.


End file.
